Disneytoon Studios’ “The Pirate Fairy” brings Captain Hook, the Croc & Skull Rock into the “Disney Fairies” fold

Jim Hill

10 years ago

Did you catch the Annies this past Saturday? The members of
ASIFA-Hollywood obviously thought a lot of Disney "Frozen
." For this
Walt Disney Animation Studios production wound up coming out on top in five
different categories.

Best Animated Feature
Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Music in an Animated Feature Production
Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Pixar Animation Studios also did okay at this year's Annies
as well. Scoring three wins for its first-ever TV special, "Toy Story of
TERROR!" …

Directing in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production
Storyboarding in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production
Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast
Production

… as well as taking home two awards for Pixar's first
prequel, "Monsters University
."

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

It was also nice to have ASIFA-Hollywood acknowledge all the great work that
Paul Rudish & his team at Disney Television Animation have been doing with
those new Mickey Mouse shorts.

Character Design in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production
Music in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production
Editorial in an Animated TV / Broadcast Production

It was also great to have the Annies throw a little love
towards Disney Junior's "Sofia the
First."

Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production For Preschool Children

And let's not forget about how — in a very competitive year
— Disney "Get a Horse!" still managed to come out on top and thus
become …

Best Animated Short Subject

So virtually every arm of the vast Disney / Pixar animation
machine got some recognition this past weekend. Every arm, that is, except
Disneytoon Studios.

Which is really a shame. Because — year in & year out — the folks who
work at Disneytoon Studios do some top quality work. But because this is the division
of Disney that handles the Company's in-home premieres … Well, that's why —
to quote the late, great Rodney Dangerfield — they don't get no respect.

Which — again — is a shame. Because if you're one of those
animation purists who deliberately steers clear of Disneytoon Studios
productions because "The Return of Jafar
" left a bad taste in your
mouth 20 years ago … It's definitely time that you gave Disneytoon Studios
another chance.

Because the crew that works at this state-of-the-art animation studio (which —
FYI — is just down the street from WDI & DreamWorks Animation) really do
believe in their mission statement. Which is to create " … timeless
stories with Disney's most beloved characters."

Take — for example — "The Pirate Fairy
." Which
will hit store shelves on April 1st of this year. Now depending on whether or
not you count "Pixie Hollow Games" (i.e., that half hour-long
"Disney Fairies" TV special which premiered on the Disney Channel
back in November of 2011), there have been five or six of these in-home
premieres built around Tinker Bell-based films.

And let's be honest here … When you're up to the fifth or
sixth installment in a series of in-home premiere films, you're typically
running on fumes. Don't believe me? Then go check out "The Land Before
Time V: The Mysterious Island
" and "The Land Before Time VI: The
Secret of Saurus Rock
." To quote one of the more family-friendly lines
from 1995's "Get Shorty
," "I've seen better film on teeth."

Now if you go check out those five (or is it six) "Disney Fairies"
in-home premieres … Well, there's actually kind of a "Benjamin
Button
" thing going on here. For instead of running out of ideas and/or
getting more predictable as these Tinker Bell-based movies went along, these
Disneytoon Studios productions actually get better & stronger.

Which brings us back to "The Pirate Fairy." Which
— based on the footage that I've seen so far — is really shaping up to be the
most ambitious one in the "Disney Fairies" series.

Mind you, some of this comes from the main conceit of this Disneytoon Studios
production. Which is … Here, I'll let Peggy Holmes (i.e., the director of
"The Pirate Fairy" and the co-director of last year's "Disney
Fairies" film, "Secret of the Wings
") explain:

Director Peggy Holmes. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

"(As we were first started working on the story for the next 'Disney
Fairies' film), we asked ourselves, 'If you live on the island of Neverland,
which is where Pixie Hollow is, and you run away from home, where do you go?'
"

A meeting that included executive producer John Lasseter and
the Disneytoon Studios story trust revealed the answer: Skull Rock. "That
led us to the idea of pirates, Captain Hook and a pirate fairy," says
Holmes.

That's right. This is the "Disney Fairies" film
that finally folds Captain James Bartholomew Hook into this Disneytoon Studios
series. Only he's not exactly the Hook that you'll remember from Disney's 1953
"Peter Pan."

And why is that? Because "The Pirate Fairy" is actually set two
decades years before "Peter Pan
." Back when Hook wasn't yet captain
of the Jolly Roger. But — rather — (SPOILER ALERT) just plain old James, an ambitious cabin
boy.

Which — I'll admit — sounds like a tough assignment to
pull off. But Jenni Magee-Cook — the producer of "The Pirate Fairy"
— was quick to point out that the crew at Disneytoon Studios did their
homework.

"We looked at the model sheets for Captain Hook from
the original designs for Walt Disney's 'Peter Pan,'" said Magee-Cook. "We
really wanted to suggest classic Hook with moments like one when he puts on his
red coat and it flairs when he jumps down."

Peggy was quick to back up Jenni's claims. Insisting that — as audiences watch
"The Pirate Fairy" — they'll be able to " … see glimpses of
who (James) is destined to become — he's ambitious, he's a leader — it all
makes sense. The audience won't feel like they're looking at a different
person. (This early incarnation of Hook) will seem familiar."

And speaking of early incarnations … You can't bring
Captain Hook onstage in the "Disney Fairies" film franchise without
also introducing James' arch-nemesis, the Croc.

Though — as you can see from these images from "The
Pirate Fairy" — it's going to be a while before Croc is up to the task of
dehandifying (Is that even a word?) Captain Hook.

But you want to know the very best part? When it came time
to cast just the right actor to voice James, who did Holmes & Magee-Cook
reach out to? Tom Hiddleston, who's probably best known to Disney fans as the
English actor who's made Loki such a memorable baddie in Marvel's
"Thor
" movies
.

Of course, Peggy & Jenni knew that they had to get
someone of equally high stature to play "The Pirate Fairy" 's title
character, Zarina (i.e., the mis-understood Dust-keeper fairy who is tricked by
James into joining up with the pirates who hang around Skull Rock). Which is
why they decided to hire Christina Hendricks of "Mad Men" fame to come voice
this character.

And given how visually ambitious this soon-to-be-released
Disneytoon Studios production is … This is one "Disney Fairies"
film that you really want to catch on a big screen if you can.

Which brings me to the very cool bit of news that I learned about just today. That "The Pirate Fairy" is actually going to be
shown at El Capitan Theatre starting on February 28th. Now what's great about
this 2 & 1/2 week-long run at this historic Hollywood
movie palace is that it actually predates "The Pirate Fairies"
in-home premiere's release to stores by a full month.

So if you're one of these people who just has to be first to see everything,
give some serious thought to going to check out "The Pirate Fairy"
when it bows at the El Capitan later this month. Because you just won't believe
how good this particular Disneytoon Studios production looks up there on the
big screen.

And speaking of serious thought … Here's hoping that —
when Annie Awards time rolls around again next year — ASIFA-Hollywood
remembers to show Disneytoon Studios some love. Because it's really high time
that the this arm of the Disney / Pixar animation complex finally got some
respect.