Faeries is a 1999

1999 in film

The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

 British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 animated film directed by Gary Hurst and featuring the voices of Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet

Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...

, Dougray Scott

Dougray Scott

-Early life:The son of Elma, a nurse, and Alan Scott, an actor and salesperson, Stephen Dougray Scott was born in Glenrothes, Fife and attended Auchmuty High School...

 and Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons

Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...

.

Main cast

• Kate Winslet
  Kate Winslet
  Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
  
   – Brigid
• Jeremy Irons
  Jeremy Irons
  Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
  
   – The Shapeshifter
• Dougray Scott
  Dougray Scott
  -Early life:The son of Elma, a nurse, and Alan Scott, an actor and salesperson, Stephen Dougray Scott was born in Glenrothes, Fife and attended Auchmuty High School...
  
   – The Faery Prince
• Charlotte Coleman
  Charlotte Coleman
  Charlotte Ninon Coleman was an English actress best known for playing Scarlett in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral , Jess in the television drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and her childhood roles of Sue in Worzel Gummidge and the character Marmalade Atkins...
  
   – Merrivale
• Jane Horrocks
  Jane Horrocks
  Barbara Jane Horrocks is an English voice, stage, screen and television actress, voice artist, musician, and singer. She is best known for her role as "Bubble" in the TV series Absolutely Fabulous as well as her distinctive voice....
  
   – Huccaby
• June Whitfield
  June Whitfield
  June Rosemary Whitfield, CBE is an English actress, well known in the United Kingdom since the 1950s for roles in radio and television comedy series....
  
   – Mrs. Combs
• John Sessions
  John Sessions
  John Gibb Marshall , better known by the stage name John Sessions, is a Scottish actor and comedian. He is known for comedy improvisation in television shows such as Whose Line Is It Anyway?; as a panellist on QI; and as a character actor in numerous films, both in the UK and in Hollywood.-Early...
  
   – Chudley
• Tony Robinson
  Tony Robinson
  Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and political campaigner. He is best known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder, and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. Robinson is a member of the Labour Party...
  
   – Broom
• Fred Ridge – George
• Carley O'Neill – Nellie

Plot

While waiting for their new home to be renovated, Nellie and her younger brother George are sent to a farm in the countryside, much to George's delight and Nellie's disgust. However, the farmhouse and the surrounding area are teeming with fairy creatures, and the first the two children encounter is a hobgoblin

Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin is a term typically applied in folktales to describe a friendly but troublesome creature of the Seelie Court.The most commonly known hobgoblin is the character Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck, however, is only another name given to a much older character named Robin...

 named Broom who is (more or less) secretly looking after the farm.

While playing outside, George inadvertently stumbles into a fairy ring

Fairy ring

A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow to over in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground. They are found mainly in forested areas, but...

 and ends up in the realm of fairies. Nellie, alerted by Broom, goes after him, but arrives only just in time to find George eating from a fairy cake. The law of the realm states that a mortal who consumes fairy food must remain in the realm forever. Nellie and George strongly - and vociferously - protest, however, and so the Fairy Prince, the ruler of the realm, offers them a chance by setting three tasks for them. However, what they do not know is that the evil brother of the Prince, the Shapeshifter, tries to manipulate the children to usurp the rulership of the fairy realm. In addition, the Prince falls in love with the human farmhand Brigid, which proves pivotal in an old prophecy which foretells the future for the fairy realm.

Special features

The most noticeable feature of this film is the obvious - and at times somewhat jarring - mix of traditional cartoon and computer animation.