So I guess Luanne Platter (from King of the Hill) will still be a sporadic character through the show's 11th (and possibly final) season because of this? Yet another way to feed the old-age stereotype that Disney is only for kids and girls?

As much as I admire Ms. Murphy, I'm gonna have to give this a thumbs down.

now if Disney spent this kind of money producing the actual animated feature--instead of pimping its new consumer products line--they might have a good flick on their hand.  How long has it been since Disney produced a high quality animated feature--complete with a winning story and top-level animation.  I think it's been over a decade now.  Even with the financial problems of the war, Walt's studio never went a decade without producing a feature that--in my opinion--will still be watched 100 years after his death.  Most of the animation coming out of DFA and everything out of Toon Studios at the moment will be forgotten in a few years.

I thought her name was her sound.  A tinkleing-bell has always reminded me of TinkerBell.  Now the sound of a giddy girl from New York (as seen on David Letterman) will have to do.

Actually Jim, JM Barrie did envision Tinker Bell to speak. She has dialogue in the original Peter Pan novel.

I think Brittany is a wonderful choice.
*waits to be mobbed*

I don't have a problem with Brittany's abilities as a voice actor (she has done fine on "King of the Hill"), but I do have a problem with Tink talking. It's wrong, wrong, wrong.

I belive Ms. Murphy will make a great choice. People are upset that LuAnn from King of the Hill will be her, but remember, she is a VOICE ACTRESS, and a pretty good one too.

Since Andy Mooney took the helm of Disney Consumer Products, this division of the Company has become its main pimp, shamelessly prostituting out Walt's rich legacy of characters. The Disney Princess line has succeeded in transforming a once unique group of Disney females into a homogenized, generic group of Stepford types, totally devoid of their individual personalities and with all of their facial features reshaped into one single Barbie-esque image. Only their hairstyles and outfits identify them as who they are supposed to be.

And now this same division of Disney has foisted this Fairies crap upon us, turning our once delightfully vampish Tink into one more Barbie wannabe, complete with a bunch of  Neverland homies. There is so much wrongheadedness with this program that it's hard to know where to begin! But I will try...

As a former Disney character illustrator, I consider myself to be quite knowledgable on what constitutes good character design. Unfortunately the Disney Fairies don't even measure up aesthetically, even aside from the fact that the whole concept is idiotic to begin with. They may be well drawn, but they are not well designed. To explain, let me point out the fact that you have about a half dozen or so girls that are all virtually the same character. Strip away the costumes and hairstyles and you're left with a group of characters indistinguishable from each other in face and form. It's cookie-cutter art at best, totally lacking individual personality.

Aside from that, there is an inherent problem with the costumes too. When the Disney artists created the visual design of Tinker Bell for "Peter Pan", they did so with an eye to practicality and having a character that could be animated with consistency. Therefore, Tink was attired in a simple green dress cut to resemble leafy foliage. These new fairies, however, have costumes that are so over-designed with so much stuff on them that it would be damn near impossible for even the most skillful animator to move them around with any consistency. Trust me, this is inherently bad animation design. The old adage, "Less is more" should apply here.

Anyway, I don't expect to make any friends or influence people within Disney with these comments, but hopefully I have helped enlighten some of you readers with this post. Walt Disney would be very displeased with the mediocrity that now runs rampant at this once-great Company.

I think she is a good choice.  She has the animation experience to work with.  The question is "What Would Walt Do?" about Tink talking...

With the Faries line, they should have created a new character with Tink being an occassional guest star.

Ms Murphy was the biggest "name" that would sign for the money Disney was willing to pay. You have to have a name to hold a press conference that will get coverage. Russi Taylor, or any of a number of women currently voicing roles for Disney could handle this, but no one would show up at the press conference. If Disney could have gotten Angelina Jolie for the money, Angelina would be in front of the microphone.

Personally, for this straight to video garbage, I would have held voice try-outs among the cast members in Anaheim and Florida. Pick cast members and let them voice the characters. You end up with excited cast members that know and promote your latest product, a new hook to hang a media story on, and promotion unlimited - buy this and win a trip to WDW where you can meet the voice of Tink. I'm sorry, that would imply creativity.

They best be careful to set expectations low or they will be judged a disappointment. I think in two years the script is suppossed to be a pleased Disney exec spouting something along the lines of, "Just a few years ago, no one had ever heard of Disney Fairies before, and they just pulled in half a billion in sales - what a success!"        

Just think how much money they could make if they were creating new appealing  characters, instead of backing into something that "should work" based on spreadsheets. Ah, but that would take creativity,,,,,,,,,

If Tink has to have a voice, I'd rather it be Murphy than say... Spears.  I'd once heard a rumor that Jennifer Love Hewitt was going to voice her, and if that'd happened, I swear I would have launched a protest.  

Murphy's a great actress, despite some rather bleak commercial role choices.  I think it's great that we have someone who can bring the right level of spunk to Tink.

Isn't this movie going to be CG? In that case the costume design shouldn't be a problem for the animators.

As for creating something original, other than Tinkerbell, what in the Disney Fairy line was used before? Isn't designing a brand new fairy world with all new characters and story lines being creative?

I don't understand all of the negativity toward this line. Does anyone here have daughters? I don't, but according to some of my friends who do, they simply love it and can't get enough. A coworker's 4 year old daughter can't wait until this movie comes out. She's already read every book (well, had it read to her). Is there something wrong with keeping the next generation of children interested in classic Disney characters? It's not like WDFA has recently produced any memorable characters for children to latch onto (other than Stitch and Kuzco).

"Does anyone here have daughters? I don't, but according to some of my friends who do, they simply love it and can't get enough."

I'm still reserving judgement on my overall opinion, but this much I can definitely back up. My daughters have loved every Disney Princess movie and they are treating this line with the same level of reverence. My six-year-old used it as the theme for her birthday party, which was beautiful and a huge hit with the dozen or so girls who attended. And it gets her to read, always a big deal for me.

As to the execution of the concept, we'll have to see. I have every confidence in Brittany Murphy to do an excellent job with the voice. My confidence in DisneyToon Studios is ... guarded. History hasn't shown much, but I insist on believing that the winds are changing somewhat at Disney. And while I think it constitutes a reinvention of Tink instead of a reexploration, I don't have the same feeling of moral outrage toward this that I did when, say, Cinderella II was released. I'm ready to like it if it's good.

I read "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg".  I thought it was a great book, as far as a kid's book goes.  I read before that Tink can talk to other fairies in Fairy Haven, but "clumsies" (people) can only hear her as bells, or something like that.  I like Brittany Murphy.  I wonder if Tink will have an accent, like Ty in "Clueless" or Luanne from "King of the Hill".  I hope that she's versatile enough that I don't focus on "that's Brittany Murphy doing the voice of Tink"...I would rather focus on the movie itself.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to wait another 16 months or so 'til the first of four "Disney Fairies" video premieres. That film -- which is tentatively titled "Tinker Bell and the Ring of Belief" -- is expected to be on store shelves no later than November of next year. Just in time for the 2007 holiday shopping season."
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"ON STORE SHELVES"??
...Oh, they got us all worked up over another dumb DTV!  :(

Here we were for predicting Doom, Gloom, Cynical Studio Catastrophe, and the Possible Corporate Silencing of John Lasseter for three months, and it wasn't even the silence decency of a February school-vacation theatrical!
(I mean, that would've been *my* first choice if I'd been working in marketing, y'know, with the whole "Maybe they'll mistake it for a real movie" thing that worked with Return to Neverland...)
Thanks for nothing, guys...Slow news-conference day at the convention, or what??

I dont know why anyone here is concerned. Unless you're under 10 that is.

These movies are being put direct to video, much like the Barbie (mermaidia) movies.
I wont see them. And i wont have children in time for them to see them. So.. eh.

That said, I wouldnt have been happy with anyone as a voice for tinkerbell. As a tinkling bell, should be the only sound heard when she speaks.

I do worry though. In the future, if this Disney Fairies brand takes off... I will have to come up with something to tell my children, as to why tink speaks in this movie. And only tinkles in this one. Probably because we're in her "fairy realm with all her friends"

Lame. And i dont really care for the product. Tinkerbell is going to be mass-marketed and shoved in our faces like Stitch was.

There was a set of 78 RPM records released by Mattel in 1955 called "Your Trip to Disneyland on Records."  Tink narrated.  Uncle Walt did not go on a rampage.

There's no reason for this to suck, other than the fact that kids TV shows about a group of fairies/pixies/elves/sprites/nymphs/group-of-little-skinny-magical-teenage-girls-in-skimpy-outfits always do.

I've seen the Fairy website, and I think it's extremely well done. And I can see why little girls - or anyone into magic, Peter Pan, fantasy, etc. - would like the Disney Fairy line. Who created Disney Dust anyway, which went a long way towards making magic onscreen look so breathtaking? And who gave Tinkerbell, formerly a splash of spotlight and a tinkling bell, personality and form? From what I've seen so far, the Disney Fairies line is such an improvement and so much more wholesome than other little-girl stuff out there. "Bratz", anyone?

I still stand by Seth MacFarlane and the other writers of Family Guy's choice of voice for Tinker Bell: Jennifer Tilly with a drunken slur. That is Tinker Bell to me. That, and has anyone seen the episode of Fairly Oddparents where the godparents go on a tour of the human body? When they get to the kidneys, they find out it's an amusement park: KidneyLand! And look, Walt Kidney is here! And who's that little sprite floating around him? Why, it's KidneyLand's mascot: Tinkle Bell! Best TB jab ever.

"now if Disney spent this kind of money producing the actual animated feature--instead of pimping its new consumer products line--they might have a good flick on their hand."

Well said Englishboy. The cart can't drive the horse. This is going to bomb. At least they learned from their mistakes with Atlantis & Treasure Planet and not sink a whole lot of money into this scheme. You need to focus on story and characters, not on marketing demographics.

"How long has it been since Disney produced a high quality animated feature--complete with a winning story and top-level animation."

Well, if you include Pixar, I'd say two weeks ago. If you exclude them, it was years ago. 'Course Jim Hill can't stand to admit that...

"I thought it was a great book, as far as a kid's book goes.  I read before that Tink can talk to other fairies in Fairy Haven, but "clumsies" (people) can only hear her as bells, or something like that."

Clumsies, eh? Muggles anyone?

Why are we wasting time on this? DTV works are easily forgotten. I'm sure the character development will be led by the marketing folks. We'll see each major sub-group in the girl demographic: Shy Fairy, Sporty Fairy, Bookworm Fairy, Fairy of ethnicity A, Fairy of ethnicity B, Athletic Fairy, etc.

This idea is lousy.

Well, you have to look for the silver lining:
A while ago--back during the "Return to Neverland" push that re-marketed Peter Pan as an official "boys'" character, and made Peter & Wendy more visible at the parks again--one of the Loopy CM Rumors[TM] flying about was of an Ariel's Grotto-style "Tinkerbell M&G area".  (See, we'd be entering her magical territory, so that's why she'd be "life-size" and we wouldn't see her at the rest of the park...)

Being a LCMR, nothing ever happened of it...Or (given Disney's shameless pushing of its DTV's along with its regular movies), maybe they were just waiting to make sure what Tink sounded like.  :)

gigglesock wrote:
"Who created Disney Dust anyway, which went a long way towards making magic onscreen look so breathtaking?"
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Well, if you mean fairy dust, that's in the Barrie...

---
"And who gave Tinkerbell, formerly a splash of spotlight and a tinkling bell, personality and form?"
---
...Wait, are we talking about the Arthur Rackham illustrations, or the 1919 silent movie?    :)

In my mind, this movie is being worked up because there are going to be 4 Fairy movies that we know about...could even be more.  So it's a whole series of spin-offs, not just one.  And, if I'm not mistaken, they will be CGI movies...

No, Derek J, I meant Disney Dust: The animated effect of sparkle and glow that made onscreen magic in Disney films believable and unforgettable. "Disney Dust" is a term coined and used by the movie industry. And IMO this Disney Fairy line is NOT going to bomb. It's going to hit big. I see nothing wrong with The Disney Co. expanding on characters Disney turned from literary characters into movie stars - and thus kept them from being forgotten save on some dusty old shelf in a library.

Disney has made it clear that they don't mind churning out tripe that appeals only to their youngest audience members. Parents have made it clear that they don't mind buying tripe that allows them to make use of the TV as a braindead babysitter.

So I guess everyone is happy, except those who think Disney should be producing content that all age groups can enjoy together. Thankfully, Lasseter is among that group. Pity he has no sway over at Consumer Products.

Yes, Disney is a marketing juggernaut. It's horrible. That's why you're reading a Disney gossip site.

I'm glad to see a little girls' Disney brand that's an alternative to the Princess line. So far, we have new stories that, by necessity, aren't just recaps of the movies this time, and each fairy's primary focus is on her "talent" (i.e. doing a job she loves) rather than romance.

I've read the first book, and they've mixed the realistic danger of an old-fashioned kids' book with the varied character relationships of a modern kids' book. It's really pretty good.

PingBack from http://tinkerbell.wvthirteen.com/archive/brittany-murphy-is-voice-of-disneys-tinker-bell/

<i>Sande Alessi Casting is searching for a few good scalawags. Jim Hill shares the particulars about these piratical auditions ... PLUS gives us a peek at the "Pirates III" teaser poster ... PLUS posts the final listing for JHM's guess-the-opening-weekend-gross-of-"Dead-Man's-Chest"

Im excited to hear her being Tink!! Really! (Mind you I still think they missed their mark by not asking ME!!)

I cant wait to see the Disney Fairie movies. I hope they arent really childish.. like Dora and crap like that.

I REALLY WANT IT TO BE A SERIES LIKE GUMMI BEARS RESCUE RANGERS DUCKTALES AND TALE SPIN!! Those were cartoons!!!!!!!! I miss the good ol' days.. you know.. the 80s.

When the Big Boxes first learned that John Lasseter had pushed back "The Tinker Bell Movie" 's release date, they weren't real happy. But as Jim Hill reports, now that these stores realize that they'll be selling this "High School Musical" sequel in place

Jim Hill shares a few fun Disney-related items that have popped up in his inbox over the past few days. Including where you can find an early reference to Rapunzel in "Enchanted"

PingBack from http://imagesarchive.org/2009/06/17/jim-hill-tink-talks-brittany-murphy-to-provide-voice-for-peter-pan/

PingBack from http://www.vnohosting.com/blog/blog1/?p=666