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Throughout this cartoon journey for preteens, the fairy community is dedicated to gathering teeth from slumbering children and placing gold beneath where they sleep. Board-riding youthful nonconformist fairy Van (voiced by Booboo Stewart) shows little enthusiasm about devoting his life to collecting baby teeth—a feeling that’s completely understandable. He’s only slightly more curious about the underlying economics of the situation: the fairies hand over the molars to mysterious goblins, who provide metal as payment. But Van’s curiosity is piqued when he spots a goblin (played by Larkin Bell), who proves to be not at all the hideous creature he expected.

A Forbidden Bond and Common Enemy

The stage is set for an adventure with a light sprinkling of teen romance (though it’s perfectly appropriate for children). The goblin and fairy communities are separated from one another, and there’s nothing like the thrill of the forbidden to bring people as one. The two species portrayed in the film are remarkably alike, yet each holds biased views about the opposite side. The fairies are supposed to be entitled types, given to taking anything they want, while goblins are allegedly dim-witted, foul-smelling, and primitive, but are in fact intelligent and advanced in technology.

Of course, such a setup requires a common enemy to unite against, and this is duly provided by some nasty spiders, voiced by Jon Lovitz and Fran Drescher. They make no secret about their intentions: they aim to devour the goblins and fairies, and they serve as fairly bloodthirsty, if not especially competent, villains.

Ideal Viewers and Overall Impression

You won’t find all that many animated films targeting the viewer group that is starting to experience early romances, but aren’t yet mature enough for whatever teenagers view these days instead of popular teen sagas. If your child is in the right age bracket, it probably won’t to become their new all-time fave, but you could do worse.

The Tooth Fairy Story releases in movie theaters in Scotland starting October 10 and across the United Kingdom from 24 October.