Mythical Creatures
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Fairy
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A fairy is a spirit (supernatural being)
found in the legends, folklore, and mythology
of many cultures. They are generally humanoid
in form, though of a higher, spiritual
nature and so possessed of preternatural
abilities. They are often depicted with
wings and an ethereal glow, lithe and
beautiful.
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Fairy DVD
DVDs and movies with fairies.
Kristen's Fairy House (The Fairy Houses Series)
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Kristen's Fairy House (The Fairy Houses Series)
Just as seashells house the sound and spirit of the sea, so too the forest houses the sound and spirit of the legendary fairies. A 1997 Parents' Choice Gold Award winner, Kristen's Fairy House takes its viewers on a quiet journey of many unexpected discoveries. Young Kristen ventures into the peaceful surroundings of an island off the coast of Maine with her talented Aunt Tracy, a storybook artist. Together they explore a wonderful woodsy land dedicated to the creation of fairy houses. As the week--and Kristen's own fairy house project--progresses, the two share simple moments of heartwarming pleasure: a cozy campfire, a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, a late-night waltz in their quaint cottage. The entire movie is shot as a documentary, narrated in retrospective prose by Kristen. Throughout the story, she learns the importance of viewing the world with an artist's eye, appreciating beauty in the smallest packages. Its simple style, harmonious score, and inviting scenery make this short feature tremendously enjoyable for youngsters old enough to ponder the reality of fairies and adults young enough to let them. The videotape package includes a handout, illustrated by Aunt Tracy, that describes tips for building a fairy house like Kristen's. Upon viewing, kids will probably want to dig right in and build their own. --Liane Thomas
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Fairy Tale - A True Story
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Fairy Tale - A True Story
When her father is declared missing in action during World War I, Elsie Wrigth (Florence Hoath) goes to live in England with her cousin Frances Griffiths (Elizabeth Earl) for whom the topic of fairies is forbidden. Immediately, the girls discover the winged creatures in the garden and photograph them for Frances's startled parents. This leads to another kind of adventure for the girls. They become the toasts of London as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Peter O'Toole) and Harry Houdini (Harvey Keitel), who have seen the photographs, escort them around town. Mildly villainous reporters chase the girls and curious spectators invade their garden after the pictures are printed publicly. Although fairies are the visible subjects, the enchanting video is really about faith. Frances's parents (Phoebe Nicholls and Paul McGann) recently lost their son, Joseph, who had originally discovered the fairies and would like to think he may be an angel. Sir Arthur also lost his son and is courted by clairvoyants who claim they can talk to the boy. Elsie waits patiently for her father to come home, although it appears hopeless that he will. Harry Houdini is an illusionist but acts against the fraudulent claims of greedy mediums and the like. They are all touched by a need to truly believe in what remains hidden. The story is very loosely based on an early 20th-century controversy involving the real Frances and Elsie who faked pictures of fairies similar to the ones in the video. The real girls never confessed, but the video suggests the manner in which the real life photos may have been produced. --Margaret Griffis
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Angelina Ballerina - Rose Fairy Princess
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Angelina Ballerina - Rose Fairy Princess
With a title like Rose Fairy Princess among its first releases, Angelina Ballerina, the PBS series centered on a single-minded mouseling, doesn't dance around the fact that it's strictly a girly-girl enterprise. But that's no strike against it; stereotypes aside, here's a cartoon as charming and accessible as the books by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig from which it bloomed. In four episodes, our prim, pirouetting heroine gives stage jitters the heave-ho, begrudgingly baby-sits her young cousin at the fair, scores scarce tickets to see the legendary Whiskersevs dance, and stumbles off on a guilt trip when a local scamp gets the blame for an accident in the neighbor's garden. In addition to her grace, agility, and talent for tucking her tail into a tutu, Angelina boasts a big-name friend or two--Judy Dench gives voice to exotic, bejeweled ballet teacher Miss Lilly. For ages 3 to 8. --Tammy La Gorce
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The Good Fairy
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The Good Fairy
The Good Fairy is an amusing minor specimen of the sort of Continental whimsy Ernst Lubitsch raised to a fine art. William Wyler, though soon to acquire major-director status, displays little affinity for comedy, and, title notwithstanding, the often-magical Margaret Sullavan is notably less magical than in her other '30s efforts (she and Wyler had a great love-hate thing going during filming, and eloped on his motorcycle right afterward). The real stars are screenwriter Preston Sturges and the breed of exuberant character actors with whom he would make manically beautiful music upon turning director himself: Reginald Owen, Eric Blore, Torben Meyer, Luis Alberni, et al. Herbert Marshall sporadically brings a Lubitschean delicacy to his role as the struggling lawyer who doesn't know he's "married" to Sullavan's sweetly balmy movie usherette (it's a long story), and Frank Morgan, as a plutocrat who desperately wants to play the roué, is really the Wizard of Oz in training. --Richard T. Jameson
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Bottle Fairy - Spring & Summer (Vol. 1)
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Bottle Fairy - Spring & Summer (Vol. 1)
The broadcast series Bottle Fairy (2003) takes its name from the four diminutive sprites who live on an adolescent boy's desk: Kururu, Chiriri, Sarara, and Hororo. When Senseisan leaves for school, the fairies go on imaginary adventures appropriate to the month of the year. In June, they play at being bride and spoof soap opera clichés with their shared puppet-husband; they try on bathing suits but never quite get around to swimming in August. Who the fairies are and why they live on Senseisan's desk is never explained. The ultra cute mini-characters recall A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, but this quartet doesn't cause changes in the human world. The artwork features odd dot patterns in some scenes that suggest a miniature Roy Lichtenstein painting. As each adventure only lasts about 10 minutes, all 13 episodes could easily fit on a single DVD. (Rated 7 and older: cartoon slapstick violence) --Charles Solomon
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A Little Snow Fairy Sugar - Friends and Dreams (Vol. 2)
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A Little Snow Fairy Sugar - Friends and Dreams (Vol. 2)
Sugar, Pepper, and Salt continue their efforts to graduate from apprentices to full-fledged Season Fairies, while inadvertently causing problems for their human friend, Saga. Sugar and Saga still squabble, and when Sugar writes an apology, she inadvertently defaces a musical manuscript written by Saga's dead mother. Everyone's life is further complicated by the arrival of Elder, the chief of the Season Fairies, who's trying to find a way to declare his affections for Ginger the Rain Fairy. Salt helps Saga's friend Phil create an artificial aurora, although why he switched from opposing Phil's experiments to aiding them isn't clear. Sugar epitomizes the Japanese fondness for the hyper-cute. These saccharine mini-adventures may appeal to small girls, but few boys will enjoy them. The combination of adorable little characters, squeaky voices, and aggressively wholesome stories will set adults' teeth on edge. (Rated 3 and older) --Charles Solomon
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Angelina Ballerina 2 Pak (Rose Fairy Princess/Friends Forever)
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Angelina Ballerina 2 Pak (Rose Fairy Princess/Friends Forever)
Rose Fairy Princess
With a title like Rose Fairy Princess among its first releases, Angelina Ballerina, the PBS series centered on a single-minded mouseling, doesn't dance around the fact that it's strictly a girly-girl enterprise. But that's no strike against it; stereotypes aside, here's a cartoon as charming and accessible as the books by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig from which it bloomed. In four episodes, our prim, pirouetting heroine gives stage jitters the heave-ho, begrudgingly baby-sits her young cousin at the fair, scores scarce tickets to see the legendary Whiskersevs dance, and stumbles off on a guilt trip when a local scamp gets the blame for an accident in the neighbor's garden. In addition to her grace, agility, and talent for tucking her tail into a tutu, Angelina boasts a big-name friend or two--Judy Dench gives voice to exotic, bejeweled ballet teacher Miss Lilly. --Tammy La Gorce Friends Forever
Angelina values close friendships, but she's soon to discover that maintaining healthy friendships can require a good deal of effort and maturity. The joy of giving reluctantly replaces remorse when Angelina donates a beloved doll to charity in "Ballerina Rag Doll," and jealousy incites a lie that threatens to grow to massive proportions in "Angelina's Surprise." "Arthur the Butterfly" illustrates the concept that if you love something, sometimes you must set it free, and "Alice's Present" shows how an innocent mistake can undermine a solid friendship it it's concealed. Two "Little Stars" live-action segments help beginning ballerinas feel more comfortable about their first ballet class and offer a glimpse of the imaginative world of dancing in character. (Ages 3 to 8) --Tami Horiuchi
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Purcell - The Fairy Queen / English National Opera
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Purcell - The Fairy Queen / English National Opera
Henry Purcell wrote only one opera, Dido and Aeneas, in a form that would be called operatic today. Other Purcell works that bear the operatic label, including The Fairy Queen and King Arthur, are actually masques or pageants, royal divertissements that sadly illustrate the decline of English drama during the late 17th century. Being the work of Purcell, The Fairy Queen has a lot of musical value. Its melodies are fresh and lilting, and its rhythms have a distinctive sparkle and vitality. Purcell's brilliantly baroque imagination was allowed to run wild in embroidering themes inspired (rather remotely, to be sure) by the fairyland fantasies of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lovers of the Bard should be warned, however, that not a single line of Shakespeare's masterpiece has been set to Purcell's music in this adaptation. For its revival in 1692, Shakespeare's text was considered not good enough. The play was rewritten, probably by the profoundly forgettable Elkanah Settle. The plot was altered, and characters and incidents added (nymphs, shepherds, a Chinese man and woman, the God of Marriage, the four seasons personified, and even a dance of monkeys). The text was spoken, not sung, except for long, elaborately staged musical extravaganzas (bearing little thematic relation to Shakespeare's text) that were tacked on at the end of each of the play's five acts. These songs, dances, and choruses--more than two hours of them--are the content of the English National Opera's production of The Fairy Queen. No effort has been made--wisely--to preserve any plot or other form of thematic coherence. The numbers are simply presented as a sort of mildly erotic variety show. There is a recurring cast of characters, including supernatural beings, humans, and animals. Costumes and props are wildly eclectic, ranging from modern realism to antiquarian fantasy. The attraction of this production lies in its skilled combination of baroque music and modern dance, both performed deftly and working together more smoothly than might have been expected. --Joe McLellan
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