Weird molar mix-up

TOOTH FAIRY: Directed by Michael Lembeck. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews, Stephen Merchant, Ryan Sheckler PG cert, gen release, 101 min

THIS IS a strange one. The easily digestible pitch – The Rock isThe Tooth Fairy – suggests a dumber class of kids' movie. Sure enough, the picture has its fair share of broad falling-down jokes. But its best moments involve routines that will leave most younger children cold (not to say sleepy). Who on earth is this thing for?

Mr Rock plays an ice hockey player who, after showing early promise, has learnt to accommodate himself to a reputation as a mindless bruiser. Nicknamed – for his capacity to remove opponents’ molars – the Tooth Fairy, Derek Thompson is now so glumly cynical that he feels it necessary to disabuse young children of any comforting delusions. He tells one youngster that the tooth fairy (the mythical tooth fairy, that is) doesn’t exist and informs a teenager that, however hard he practices, he is very unlikely ever to become a rock star.

You know how these Scrooge clones go. One night, Derek is transported to a mysterious institution run by an impressively imperious Julie Andrews. She informs him that, as punishment for spreading misery, he must serve two weeks as the (again, mythical) tooth fairy. Equipped with wings and a pretty costume, he is instructed to sneak into kids’ bedrooms and replace their baby teeth with a few dollars. (Hey, I can remember when you got an old sixpence).

So far, so The Santa Clause. The film is, however, enlivened by a series of supporting performances that really don't belong in a toddlers' movie. Billy Crystal has an excellent, apparently improvised cameo as an elderly, eccentric Magicland official. Stephen Merchant gets great mileage from his substantial role as – shades of Henry Travers in It's a Wonderful Life– the underachieving factotum who becomes the athlete's fairy coach. Weirdest of all, Seth MacFarlane, cheeky creator of Family Guy,turns up as, essentially, a pusher of fantastic, reality altering drugs.

These diversions are all amusing, but they only emphasise what a peculiar project Tooth Fairyis. Seriously, guys. Who's it for?