Lessons from the Tooth Fairy?

Toothless, a Disney Channel movie, I watched back during my years in elementary school, taught me a valuable lesson in how to live my life to the fullest. The impact was so profound, that as of today I feel compelled to share.

The movie revolves around the life of Catherine Lewis, a dentist, who lives an unromantic life. For years Catherine remains single, turning down potential suitors, as she’s afraid of losing any love she may acquire. 

On her way to visit her friend Mindy, one fateful day, Catherine attempts to cross the street unsuccessfully. Stepping out into traffic, she meets head-on with an oncoming car.

She dies instantly.

Upon reawaking, Catherine finds herself trapped in a place referred to as Limbo (a place between Heaven and Hell). Limbo, an alternate reality, serves as a place for second chance, for those who had not yet been deemed worthy of entry into Heaven upon immediate death.

It’s in Limbo that Catherine is required to perform community service. Unknowingly, Catherine signs up to work as the Tooth Fairy. During her first night, Catherine meets a young boy named Bobby. Bobby, who becomes somewhat frightened, can see the Tooth Fairy as she comes to visit him. 

It’s in this moment we learn that children with at least one baby tooth can see the Tooth Fairy, whereas those with none cannot. Losing all baby teeth symbolizes the child’s loss of innocence. 

During her time as the Tooth Fairy, Catherine develops love (not in a romantic way though) for Bobby and his close group of friends. However, part of her job requires her to avoid interaction with anyone else when working (In Limbo disobeying the rules could lead to Catherine being sent to Hell).

However, this disobeying of the rules contradicts the purpose of why Limbo exists. For Catherine, she was sent to Limbo because she had never loved anyone else besides those in her family. Love, the greatest gift of life, had gone unused and therefore Catherine had been deemed to have lived a life unwisely. 

For me, this concept hit home right away. 

I once believed love was the greatest part / experience of life. To this day I still do and I’m sure I always will.

As for Catherine, I believe she eventually saw the truth to this claim, as she continued to break the rules (talking with the kids whom she visited). Her constant rule breaking eventually led to her being sent to Hell. For this reason, and this reason alone, I fell in love with the movie. Weird right?

The reason was simply for how Catherine valued love. She valued it enough to give up her entry into Heaven. 

Oddly enough though, the next scene of the movie flashes to Catherine waking up to on the street at the scene of the accident, that at one time we were lead to believe was the cause of her death. For her, she had been given a second chance at life. 

Bobby, the child she initially met on the first night of the job, later comes into her dentist office for a routine checkup (a few days after the collision). It is in this moment that he recognizes Catherine, as they reunite, but as Catherine pulls out Bobby’s last baby tooth he can no longer remember Catherine or her job as the Tooth Fairy. 

For Catherine, she becomes saddened. However, the movie soon comes to an end on a positive note with Bobby’s dad arriving to pick his son up from his appointment. It is in this moment that we see a spark ignite between the two.

The movie ends with the dad inviting Catherine to join in grabbing a bite to eat with Bobby and him, leading us to believe that Catherine may indeed have found a potential new love.