Ps-s-st! Want to see a tough guy go really soft? You’ve got it if you go out to see the recently-released film The Tooth Fairy sometime this weekend.

You’ll see Dwayne (“The Rock”) Johnson in another gentle kiddie role—this time as a washed-up star ice hockey player who is sentenced to two weeks’ “fairy duty” for denying his 6-year-old potential stepdaughter the right to dream when he tells her there’s really no such thing at the tooth fairy.

Johnson’s character, erstwhile ice hockey great Darek “Tooth Fairy” Thompson, is summoned to Fairyland by his fairy godmother (Julie Andrews) and is told that he’ll have to be the tooth fairy until he’s learned that kids need their dreams. But there’s a catch: Thompson can’t tell any mortal—even his girlfriend, Carly (Ashley Judd) or her two children—that he’s become a real fairy.

Kids and kids-at-heart will giggle as the hulking Thompson appears in fairyland in a pink tutu, which is mistakenly assigned as he’s whisked away from the mortal realm. More giggles are in store as Thompson, finally restored to a somewhat more “masculine” look, bungles his way through the homes of youngsters who have lost their teeth. Along the way, using “cat away”, Thompson shoos off a house cat that has seemingly assumed gigantic proportions after Thompson renders himself six inches tall with fairy shrinking paste. Later,  Thompson manages to scare one poor tyke almost out of his skin. A couple of other funny scenes result as Thompson uses another tool of his new fairy trade—amnesia powder.

The film grows touching, though, as we see Carly’s 13-year-old son, Tracy (Stephen Merchant) struggle with his own dream of becoming a rock guitarist.

A good supporting comic  role is supplied by Seth McFarlane as Ziggy, Thompson’s fairy mentor.

Neither the story nor the special effects are anything outstanding, but the film does manage to entertain on a very light level. However, I was confused by the injection of soccer scenes throughout the film. With the exception of one toward the end, I sometimes wondered what they really had to do with the story as a whole.

On a more positive note, the costume designers did a great job of making “The Rock” look good in drag.

The Tooth Fairy is rated PG. It is now playing at Forney’s Stadium 12 theater. See their ad on page 4 for the show times of this and other current features.

*See the January 28, 2010 issue of the Forney Messenger for a review on "Extraordinary Measures".