Fairy Tale - A True Story

Rating:
Summary: A unique and enchanting movie
Review: Many reviewers give this movie high praises for originality, but since it's not the typical children's type of story are uncertain if they should give it a 4 or a 5 rating.

This movie has no evil villians trying to ensnare the poor faries and capture the little girls. There are no heroic leads who come in and set everything right. It is simply about living and believing in what most cannot.

The film follows the story of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffith, two girls who want to prove to their unbelieving mother that faries do exsist. Their photographs, however, get out of controle and soon the entire nation is in an uproar. The two girls must find a way to stop the commotion while not breaking their promise to never reveal the faries' secrets.

This movie is very well done and superbly acted. The two girls are great actors (not many child actors are!) and as a sherlock fan i am proud of Peter O' Tool's portrayal of Sir Author Conan Doyal. The addition of Huddini in the mix adds for a delightful drama.

The movie doesn't sugar-coat anything, and the question about what happens when children grow up is ever present. It is a sad-sad world where we are forced to become adults and stop beliving in fantasy and magic.

I would like to dispell alot of the claims of "bad computer animation" in this movie. ... For one thing, Computer Animation wasn't used to portray any of the fairies except the mermaid one. The rest were real actors. I think that the little amount of footage of the faries on screen allowed the filmakers to spend more time on them and create a much more believable scene than anything done in recent years (with the exception of "Hook")

Rating:
Summary: Engaging story line with beautiful scenery & music
Review: My daughter (a mature 3 year old) fell in love with this film. While the subject could be considered advanced for her age the administration of parental guidance and explanation enabled her to understand elements adults might assume to be frightening to children. This is a constantly requested video that we never tire of watching.

Rating:
Summary: Even young viewers will enjoy it
Review: My daughter started watching this at age 4, and we've seen it many times since. Many aspects of the film may have escaped her, but she is utterly enchanted with the idea of creating fairy houses. She regularly collects objects from the garden and spends hours constructing elaborate small-scale mansions. We may live in a cynical world, and it may be easy to turn on Pokemon or Rugrats or something else shallow, but if you want to do a real favor for a small person you love, get this video and watch it together.

Rating:
Summary: Charming...helps us get in touch with surreal world!
Review: Our theosophy group watched this and I believe I was meant to see this! A week later when I picked up my grandchildren (ages 7 and 5) to visit, my grandson skeptically announced that his sister "sees fairies." I have no doubt that a hand from the beyond was involved in my seeing this for my awareness...and the children's. Needless to say, I'm ordering it today to share with the children! This movie should have been a blockbuster....a real sleeper!

Rating:
Summary: The warmth and excitement of magic
Review: Reality unrolls so ... normal ... expected ... drab. Life may not trudge precisely through Shakespeare's seven ages, but we humans are given to know what we can expect during our assigned years on Earth. Cause and effect; expectations and responsibilities; roles to play; rules to abide by; moralities to honor; standards to uphold; sickness and death; physical and social limitations; genes, hormones, and DNA; crusades to march and wars to wage; standards to achieve; and loyalties we're assigned - all to be accepted with a stiff upper lip, no matter the bent of our hearts.

Ah, but just at the edge of our view there's magic. Magic gives life another dimension, a new and fulfilling warmth and excitement; rules and roles and all are suspended. We can fly, maybe ... if we want, or at least thrill in the witness of others who can. Tinkerbell did exist, you know: if not in my own original vision, then through the vision of J. M. Barrie. As a child I clapped along with everyone else so that Tinkerbell would live. As an adult I know (I think) that Tinkerbell only existed on Mr. Barrie's printed script, because I know (I think) that fairies aren't real. But even as an adult, out there at the edge of my view, could it be? It scares me to hope.

Elsie and Frances knew what reality was in their early twentieth century world. Eight year-old Frances' mother was dead; her father was missing in a terrible war; and she had to travel thousands of miles to live in the home of her cousin, the last leg of her trip on a train that she shared with wounded and maimed soldiers returning from the front lines. Elsie's brother had recently died of pneumonia (in those days pneumonia was almost a death warrant), and both her parents were struggling with that reality. Elsie at twelve also faced the reality that "in six months time, she'll be able to start work at the mill safe in the knowledge that she has a job for life."

So they seek and find fairies in the beck (a small stream near their house) and take pictures of them - and so begins the story. Are the fairies real? Or are the girls merely little scam artists perpetrating a grand hoax? But why on Earth would two sweet kids do such a thing?

In my judgment, this is as perfect a movie as I've ever seen. The story is fascinating and complete. The images are breathtaking. The music, by Zbigniew Preisner, charms. The cast, which includes Peter O'Toole, Harvey Keitel, Paul McGann, and Phoebe Nichols, is outstanding. Elizabeth Earl is the perfect personification of the bright, precocious - and wise Frances. Florence Hoath plays Elsie with an understated grace that's absolutely awesome.

I recommend this movie to young and old. You skeptics? Well, check out there at the edge of your view: I think you might be missing something that could bring some warmth and excitement back to your normal, expected, and perhaps drab life.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: Saw this film in the theatre and was dissapointed there weren't many fairies in it at all. Whenever you do see them the animation is great but it is a rare thing until the very end.
I wasn't too impressed but kids may still enjoy this film

Rating:
Summary: This movie just gets better each time I see it!
Review: Since the last review I wrote on this film, I would just like to say how wonderful it remains with every viewing! It has continued to remain one of my all-time favorite films and I believe it is because of the amazing cast,the great script,the first rate acting,and an enchanting musical score. This little gem of a movie certainly deserved more success than it received and it is about as perfect a film as I have ever seen. I would have liked to have seen Elizabeth Earl and Florence Hoath in more starring roles because they carried this film from beginning to end and did it beautifully! There is something about this movie that has stayed with me long after I first saw it. The next time you are in your local video store and you are looking for something you might have missed the first time around, rent this one-you won't be sorry!-as for me-I BELIEVE!

Rating:
Summary: A true story? Yeah right...
Review: The fact that this movie was made at all annoys me, but what annoys me more is the title of the film. Fairy Tale - A TRUE story? Give me a break.

If you haven't seen or heard of the movie (or the actual incident in 1917), it is about two little girls who go out by the creek where they're living and take photographs of fairies. They become a huge sensation, supported by hundreds of people who now believe in faries, including Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is fairly close to the actual story of the Cottingly Fairies, except it is missing one small, minor detail: The photographs were a hoax.

Elsie a Frances used paper cut-outs of fairies from a popular book at that time, setting them up to look as if they were dancing about on some rocks by the stream. They took pictures of eachother posing behind the cutouts, and when the photographs were developed they told everybody that they had been dancing with real fairies. People believed them, and things built from there.

None of this is ever mentioned in the movie, and the fact that there are fairies fluttering about all over the creek makes it quite obvious that they had no intention of actually sticking to the true story of the cottingley fairies. So why did they find it necessary to call it "A True Story"?

I would have enjoyed this movie much more if they had not deemed it necessary to glorify two little girls who played a nasty trick on a lot of vulnerable people. They could have easily changed the setting of the movie or at least changed the names of the people involved. Of course, I suppose if they had done that, they wouldn't have been able to call it "a true story."

Rating:
Summary: Don't Let This One Pass By
Review: This amazing film is about two little girls who, with no photographic experience, take photos of Fairies. Kodak examines the photos and says they are untouched, but refuses to acknowledge the existance if these little sprites. In come two of my personal heroes, Sherlock Holmes, because he believes the girls, and Harry Houdini, because he dosn't believe them.
But, reguardless, if you believe, you will be facinated. If you do not believe, you might, just for a moment, question that belief.
Either way, do NOT miss this film!

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Movie
Review: This facsinating story of two young girls who take fake photos of fairies are brought to life again in this wonderful movie. When I first saw this movie 4 years ago, it amazed me. You do not have to be a fairy lover to see this movie. Even this story will be of interest to those who are total non-believers. I really reccomend this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll give it 100 stars.