Tinker Bell is one of the feistiest heroines in history and now she’s back for a third magical adventure in the animated Disney franchise that explores ‘Tink’s’ life before Peter Pan arrived on the scene.

Tinker Bell, a character created by JM Barrie in his play Peter Pan, first opened the doors to the enchanted world of Pixie Hollow and its magical inhabitants in the self-titled film Tinker Bell in 2008, and having proved her leading lady status, she returned a year later in Tinker Bell And The Lost Treasure.

Now she amps up the action in Tinker Bell And The Great Fairy Rescue.

Set at the turn of the last century, the animation sees Tinker Bell (voiced by Mae Whitman) and her fairy friends winging their way from Never Land to the lush meadows of the English countryside to bring summer to the Mainland.

It’s a hive of industry at fairy camp when the film opens with the pixies painting butterfly wings, gathering berries, coaxing flowers to bloom and weaving Queen Anne’s Lace.

Tinker Bell, as resourceful as ever, arrives to find she’s tinkered with everything so well there’s nothing left for her to do.

Forever curious and distracted by the sight of her first ever automobile, she wanders away from fairy camp and flies alongside an oblivious Dr Griffiths (Michael Sheen) and his nine-year-old daughter Lizzie (Lauren Mote), who are living at an old country house for the summer.

Lonely and looking for entertainment, Lizzie, an ardent believer in fairies wanders out into the fields and sets up a home for them, inadvertently catching Tinker Bell.

While the two form a firm friendship, with Tinker Bell mustering up ways for Lizzie to spend more time with her busy father, Tinker Bell’s friend Vidia organises the fairies to embark on brave mission to rescue her, believing Tinker Bell’s in grave trouble.

As you’d expect from Disney, it’s a charming tale playing on the childhood hope of meeting magical creatures at the bottom of the garden and taking inspiration from the Darling children’s first meeting with Peter Pan and Tinker Bell, the famous words, ‘Think happy thoughts’ are uttered for the first time.

The pivotal bond between Tinker Bell and Lizzie is endearing, and for the most part manages to stay away from the saccharine, as does Lizzie’s relationship with her sceptical father.

As you’d expect from Michael Sheen, of Frost/Nixon fame, he brings a sympathetic tone to the pre-occupied character of Dr Griffiths in a somewhat limited role.

But while there are lots of details to feast your eyes on, including an inventive scene involving a path of flying crockery veiled in pixie dust that the fairies escape from Lizzie’s cat on, the rescue mission never seems to reach full throttle.

And with the likes of Toy Story 3 setting the bar for animation these days, even the youngest of children that this film’s aimed at might leave the cinema in need of a little pixie dust pick-me-up.

• Release Date: Friday 13 August 2010
• Certificate: U
• Runtime: 76mins