DVDizzy Forum

Fun fact: Disney fairies was originally going to be 2d animated and (my) Sydney studio was priming for the gig. Then it was decided to switch to CG in India and the last remaining 2d studio outside Burbank got its closure notice.

Sotiris wrote:It looks like Disney has fully abandoned the Disney Fairies/Tinker Bell brand. The website for Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media no longer lists Tinker Bell as one of their franchises.

Sotiris wrote:The website for Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media no longer lists Tinker Bell as one of their franchises.

Rumpelstiltskin wrote:Anyway, what was the original concept? It would be interesting to know what kind of changes were done.

Tinker Bell was supposed to be initially a hand-drawn animated movie and animators had worked up several developmental reels. However in 2005, then-WFDA head David Stainton and Morrill decided that cel animation was dead and that Tinker Bell would become a CGI flick. This was over the objections of senior animators, who didn't think the film and character would look as good in CGI.

Sharon Morrill's concept: Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the other Lost Boys had to return the gift of joy and imagination, to save the fairies from extinction and to keep children everywhere from becoming dull automatons. In a widely disseminated announcement, Morrill hired actress Brittany Murphy to be the voice of Tinker Bell in this, and subsequent, movies.

“Neverland disappeared, Peter and the Lost Boys were enslaved in the boiler room of a real-world barge, and children all over London lost joy and imagination," claimed one insider. Of course everyone and everything is restored in the end—this is Disney, after all.”

“If anything, it’s way too complex for younger kids,” said someone else who saw the film. “They had books of rules for everything: rules for Neverland, rules for the Fairies, rules for the kids, rules for London. The whole thing was so complex, they [the animators] couldn't keep track of it. I don't know how they expected kids to. I won't even begin to get into the fairy fart jokes or the strong lesbian tones of the original story.”

Lasseter had told Sharon Morrill that he didn't want Peter Pan, the other Lost Boys or London in Tinker Bell, saying that it would invite unfortunate comparisons to the 1953 classic Peter Pan. He also disliked the story, saying, "Fairies don't bring imagination."

Lasseter even hated the trilogy's concept: Tinker Bell's best friend discovers that boy fairies live in another part of Neverland. That sets the stage for a Romeo and Juliet story, where two lovers are caught in a war between the boy and girl fairies. The first movie ends with the Romeo fairy sacrificing himself to save his love, and the Juliet fairy going with Tinker Bell to see a performance by an all-girl fairy group informally called "The Pixie Chicks." In the second and third movies, Tinker Bell discovers that the Romeo fairy isn't actually dead, and the trilogy ends happily ever after.