There needs to be more hockey movies. Period.
So if there is a movie with any bit of hockey in it, I’ll give it watch. That’s why the family rented The Tooth Fairy. My son could watch the goofy tooth fairy stuff, my wife could watch Dwayne Johnson, and I could try to get some satisfaction from the hockey scenes.
Surprisingly, The Tooth Fairy was a decent vehicle for Dwayne Johnson, as he played a defenseman named Derek. The concept of Dwayne being “The Tooth Fairy” knocking out teeth as the hockey muscle made sense. In fact I wish the whole movie was about his hockey career and his battle to get back into the NHL.
The only plot point that didn’t make sense was that after Derek was injured and demoted to the minor leagues, he couldn’t return to NHL status because he couldn’t score. Some of the best defensemen today aren’t known for scoring. Their job is to get the puck out and help the goalie block shots. If you can set up some offense with assists, that’s a more valuable stat that goals scored.
I admit having a scoring defenseman on point is important for power plays, but again pucks in goal should not affect whether he is NHL ready. Many guys are called up specifically just to bust heads. So the reality is Derek’s character should have had that NHL call up.
Regardless of my quibbles, I enjoyed the scenes on the ice and probably could have watched an entire movie devoted to his return to stardom rather than the kiddie Tooth Fairy fantasy.
I even enjoyed Ryan Sheckler as the rookie phenom player that overshadows Johnson. I hope he gets more work.
So what did I think? Yes the movie was kind of cute. A very good family movie with NO PROFANITY (only one insinuated word that was never spoken). But you should also give it a go if you like hockey movies, because there is one buried beneath the fantasy kids stuff that is actually entertaining.