"The Tooth Fairy," also known as Derek Thompson, is a hard-charging hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngster's dreams, he's sentenced to one week's hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek "can't handle the tooth" - bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers' homes-doing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position, he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams. - skip ad -  Genres: Comedy and Kids/Family Running Time: 1 hr. 42 min. Release Date: January 22nd, 2010 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action. Distributor: 20th Century Fox Distribution Cast And Credits Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd, Stephen Merchant, Ryan Sheckler, Seth MacFarlane Directed by: Michael Lembeck Produced by: Jim Piddock, Jason Blum, Mark Ciardi

Woe to the grouchy sports hero who dares to tell children to stop believing in magic and give up their dreams. When Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson), a fading ice hockey star nicknamed Tooth Fairy for his habit of knocking out opponents’ teeth, scoffs at the young daughter of his girlfriend, Carly (Ashley Judd), for believing in the tooth fairy, the enchanted powers that be decide to teach him a lesson.

Mortified to find himself suddenly sprouting wings and wearing a pink tutu, Derek is summoned to fairyland to be prosecuted as a dream killer. Julie Andrews, looking much the worse for wear, plays Lily, fairyland’s scowling chief executive, who sentences Derek to two weeks of tooth-fairy duty: his assignment is to slip into children’s bedrooms and exchange dollars for baby teeth left under their pillows.

There you have the slender, cutesy premise of the family comedy “Tooth Fairy,” directed by Michael Lembeck. Mr. Johnson, a k a the Rock, shows once again that he has no real acting talent. Charisma? Yes, if you find a blindingly white grin attached to a shaved, over-muscled torso charismatic.

Watching the first half-hour of “Tooth Fairy” is like reaching into a grab bag of novelties, as the movie unveils its tricks. The liveliest scene is a nonsensical verbal joust in fairyland between Derek and an uncredited Billy Crystal that recalls the giddier verbal effusions found in a Danny Kaye movie. After that, the wit more or less evaporates, replaced by bloated sentimentality and clumsy plot exposition.

Derek has at his disposal special tools that include an all-purpose magic-generator button; invisibility spray; shrinking paste that can temporarily reduce him to the size of a mouse; dog-bark mints that turn speech into woofs and arfs; and amnesia dust that erases short-term memory. Were these toys deployed with a lighter, more whimsical touch, “Tooth Fairy” might have been good, silly fun. But like most family films nowadays, the movie squanders a lot of energy righteously huffing and puffing its message: let kids dream.

Once Derek realizes that his cynical disbelief has hobbled his own career, he sees the light. The embarrassing wings that sprout from his shoulders at the most inopportune moments will enable him to fly, but only if he believes that they can. Flap, flap, flap: off he goes.