Secret of the Wings 3D [Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy]

Now I've got a secret that I have to let you in on; I love Tinker bell movies! It started when I was surfing the family channel one day and I stumbled on the original movie. "Hey," I said; "this is a great little movie." And my love affair has continued through The Lost Treasure and The Great Fairy Rescue; each one charming and funny in it's own right. And so when Secret of the Wings came out. I just had to acquire it.

In this forth instalment of what looks like it's going to be a very long franchise; the plot is quite simple and forthright. Not surprising considering the movie is only 75 minutes long. There's no time for a complicated plot. In essence Tink sneaks into the winter woods one day where Pixie Hollow fairies are not allowed to go and discovers that she may have a long lost sister by the name of Periwinkle. It's as simple as that.

Unlike the previous movies, I found this one more serious and less humorous. Concentrating on the mystery of her glowing wings; why the fairies of the winter woods don't mix with the rest of fairy kind and of course; the inevitable crisis that will force both sides to come together. Some wonderful touching moments occur along the way and sacrifices may have to be made! Not to worry though; this is a Disney movie so you know there will be a happy ending.

Although the movie is short and more serious; Disney makes up for it by throwing in a long 22 minute short that's absolutely funny, thrilling and just as good as the main feature called "Pixie Hollow Games!" It's an absolute hoot being nothing less than a fairy version of the Olympics. Seeing thousands of fairies cheering from the stands is just priceless! It's a perfect parody of a sports movie where you know the underdogs are gonna win!

Although I have the 4 disc BD 3D collection, I don't have a 3D TV yet. But from the looks of the standard Bluray, it should look outstanding. The 1080P is Disney's usual high standard and there are three audio options, DTS-HD Master audio in English and Dolby Digital 5.1 in French and Spanish. The short is similar except that English and French are a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and the Spanish is Dolby Prologic surround. I didn't bother checking out the DVD.

Now for a couple of caveats: - In the last couple of years Disney has put anti-piracy programming into their later BD's with mixed results. While most folks won't notice anything; there have been reports of their BD's not working in some bluray players until they do firmware updates. There are also some glitches with the audio on certain A/V receivers. For instance, every ten minutes or so; the audio on my Denon receiver would start to develop a noticeable echo which could only be eliminated by momentarily pausing the movie. Quite annoying when it happens to you over half a dozen times. This only happens with the DTS-HD English track. The Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks were fine. It's happened on my Disney "John Carter" movie as well. To make matters worse, there was no way for me to switch to an English Dolby Digital track as they haven't included one! grr......... But for most of you, this probably won't be a problem.

The other caveat is for those who have the 4 disc 3D combo collection. Namely to be very careful when you open the case! Unlike all previous Disney multi-disc combo packs; this one does not have a center flipper for the 3rd or 4th disc. Instead they have chosen to go with just the two disc spindle type case. The right spindle contains the 3D Bluray disc with the digital copy disc UNDERNEATH. Ditto for the left spindle on the inside front cover, standard Bluray disc with the DVD disc UNDERNEATH. It works but needless to say there's not a lot of space and you have to be very careful that you don't dislodge the underneath discs when removing and that you press firmly when replacing least you end up with floaters. The chances of accidental scratching or dropping are always present! Of course, if you only have the two disc collection, this is not a problem.

Four stars for Secret of the Wings & the Pixie Hollow Games short! They're both outstanding family movies/shorts! But one star for their really really dumb anti-piracy programming and two stars for their stupid two discs to a spindle packaging.

J. A.

The first time my daughter watched this she loved it but she does not request to watch this often. Maybe 3 is to young for tinkerbell.

What can I say about Tinkerbell. With her level of mischievousness and her sense of fun, you just can't go wrong. Cute story. The animation is extremely good. All in all, I would recommend this to kids and adults alike.