This installment is about WINTER, and the series now covers all Seasons. This film takes a very different route for Tinker Bell and I'm not sure I like it. Tinker Bell learns she has a sister in another Fairy realm, and does everything in her power to be with her.

The plot is very simple, unlike the previous films, which had deeper underlying themes. The humor was also very cartoonish, making this film aimed at a much younger demographic. Adults might find it difficult to relate to the film or enjoy it as much as its predecessors. I certainly didn't enjoy it as much. There were just too many conveniences and last minute (or second for that matter) rescues, it reminded me of typical Hollywood cliches. I did not find the story convincing enough and over-dramatized, while very melodramatic other times. The fairy inventions are very innovative, though.

Disney continues its "Fairies" franchise with the latest entry in the series, "Secret of the Wings." This marks the fourth movie and there doesn't look to be an end in sight with next year's addition already scheduled. Timing couldn't be better to release the newest sequel since it takes place in the land of Winter and would make the perfect gift for Christmas for any little girl.

A curious Tinker Bell ignores the rules of warm fairies and ventures into the forbidden world of winter. Her dangerous excursion leads her to uncover a mysterious secret and almost break a wing . A bizarre glow overcomes her wings during the quick visit, which drives Tinker Bell to return and delve deeper into the winter woods in search of the Keeper of all fairy knowledge.

"Secret of the Wings" looks fabulous. Its CG animation is clean and picture perfect. A greater amount of visual depth can be felt when watching the 3D version of the film. However, the 2D version is stunning as well. The color schemes are beautiful no matter if the screen is filled with striking whites or darker tones.

I bought the Blu-Ray of "The Secret of the Wings" after having seen badly ripped tidbits of it. The tiny bits that I saw (in a rather crappy quality) made me wonder about the rest of the movie, and I decided to just buy the movie.

Now, I have to admit that Disney's fairies are kind of a guilty pleasure for this grown-up geek. I know they are, basically, meant for kids, however, there are enough little jokes and visual gags that go over the heads of little ones, to entertain grown-ups too.

Aside from the gags and little in-jokes, the high quality blu-ray visuals are absolutely stunning, even in 2d. The color palette is gorgeous, atmospheric and translates very well to a smaller screen. The animation is very good. Some mo capping seems to have been used, but not consistently. Frankly that's a bit of a shame. Kids won't notice, but this art-school drop-out noticed that the upper-torso movements, the little twitches that every human has, were captured in sheer perfection, and show the craft of the Disney animators. However, walking animations, and animal animations were not very convincing and pulled me a bit out of the "immersion" The snow-owls were adequate, but the lynx was absolutely not.. Nit-picking, I know.

And while I am at it, the "songs" were an uninspired atrocity, belted-out by some talentless, soulless...person.. Brrrr. The rest of the music was good, with nice little touches of classical pieces. Listen f.i. careful to the theme played when Tinkerbell and her sister, Periwinkle "dance" around each other for the first time.

The story on its own was a nice adventure bit, with some really funny characters that were brought to joyful life by an excellent combo of very talented voice-actors (and some big names at that..) and the Disney animators that, as already stated, absolutely know their craft.

All in all movies like this show that CGI doesn't have to be lifeless shiny stuff, and prove that in the hands of people that know what they are doing, can be just as charming (and tugging at your heart-strings) as drawn animation.

On a side-note: What struck me, was an underlying message that girls can do technical stuff too. Tinkerbell designs, and builds a snow-maker with the help of the other girls. The boys just deliver the parts. Tinkerbell..well.. She "tinkers" and is still, undoubtedly a girl. That's an on-going theme in the Disney-fairy movies and shorts. I think it is a really good, empowering thing for girls to be told:"yes, you can/may build technical gizmo's. It's not just a boy-thing, or a weird geek-thing".