I’ll probably be treading the same waters as so many before me when I say that Winx Club had me perplexed for several reasons, but let’s first get started on what this feature DVD release is all about, and talk about the bonus supplements, animation styles, and story.

The title of this release is Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, which refers to birthplace of Bloom, the main magical fairy in the series. In the film we find ourselves immediately thrown into a story that seems half told already. The Winx fairies stand before a dark castle in which they hope to find a swordsman, for whatever reason. A battle ensues which introduces us to the Winx, their powers, and the Sailor Moon like transformation that occurs when they switch from regular fairies to, I don’t know, super fairies? I was briefly taken aback by the transformation as the characters become completely nude, blocked only by gleaming light and then clothes that appear out of nowhere, clothing most of them as they transform. I used to watch Sailor Moon with my girls and the surprise of this type of transformation doesn’t shock me. What shocked me was the outfits these Winx characters wear, but we’ll get back to that later.

After the ensuing battle we head back to the fairy academy, Alfea, where we get a quick rundown of what the fairies were up to, but then are quickly whisked away to a celebration party, the introduction of every guy for every girl, and the story only gets more muddled as we move along. Basically the girls dress like strippers, or Bratz dolls (is there a difference?) and they decide to back Bloom on her mission to visit her home planet, as directed by the spirit of her dead sister in a dream? Boy drama happens over and over as we move along and Bloom makes for a lot of boo hooing before we learn that this is the type of story that is meant to make little girls believe that their purpose is to look pretty and wait for a guy to come along and save them. Selena Kyle would be so unimpressed, as I was by the end of this poorly written story.

The animation style for this feature is all CGI which makes the movement of the characters look odd at times. Their features are  bizarrely anamorphous, and leaves a lot to be desired considering the show is actually hand drawn with occasional CGI, but has a more natural look. All in all I was just left with a poor impression of the film, its characters, and its weak story.

The DVD comes with 7 bonus episodes of the actual show, which ties in with the feature on a minimalist scale. The hand drawn animation is a little less freaky but it doesn’t help that the characters dress so appalling. They do however take their destinies in their own hands with their boy counterparts aiding them on occasion. Still I didn’t find much use for the show. I’m not quite sure what the goal here is as far as appealing to young girls, but it fails me, as a parent of girls, in just about every way. As always though, final judgment is yours.