'Fairly-a-tale' is brave attempt to
marry several genres together. It can be described as narrative fiction with
broadway ambitions and a touch of TV drama. It tells the story of a young man
who is drawn into the world of fairies and strongly believes they exist. He
spends a great deal of time in a public park playing a sort-of Steve Irvin
figure to the forest and to song and dance too. My heart skipped a beat when
the music started and all the peripheral characters broke into a broadway-esque
number. No need to wait for the fairies to appear!
As much the effort to orchestrate a big group of talents
into a moving and singing tableau is applaudable, these theatrical extensions
seem like ill-fitting gene transplants that take our attention away from the
film’s main conservationist message. The film is essentially about a young
man’s attempt to prove that natural forested reserve is worth preserving
instead of being redeveloped (Sounds like a tribute to Bukit Brown). More
specifically, he believes fairies inhabit the reserve somewhere. Facing
skepticism from people around him, most of all his family, the film slips into
the familiar ‘I see things that you don’t’. A somewhat unintentionally funny
moment surfaces when the father, played by Channel 8 veteran Richard Low,
chastises him for his beliefs in fairies. It’s a funny Channel 8 brushes
Channel 5 moment akin to stodgy conservative family values meeting Hollywood-inspired
adventure!
Undeniably, the simple family scenes are also the most of
enjoyable part of the film where it is easy to identify with the characters.
After this, the film goes downhill into a painfully predictable payoff to the
fairy belief – presenting the real fairies in action and striking up a bit of
Disney romance between the young man a young female fairy. In fact, come to
think of it, it’s all Disney after all, humans entering the a fantasy realm and
the characters teach them a moral of two that they bring back to the human
world to make the world a better place. Somehow, drawing on a tested formula
like Disney seems to validate the film a bit more. Maybe it just needs a bigger
budget and accent-free fairies.
Review by Jeremy Sing
This film was recently screened at Substation's First Takes
This film was recently screened at Substation's First Takes