MANILA, Philippines?Dwayne ?The Rock? Johnson may be big and tough, but in the new family film ?Tooth Fairy,? the magnetic actor finds himself transformed into a tooth fairy? with wings and a wand.

Johnson stars as ice-hockey player Derek Thompson who has lost faith in himself and in everyone else. A good man at heart but nursing disappointments of his own, he dashes the hopes and dreams of children with discouraging words. As punishment, he is sentenced by Chief Tooth Fairy Julie Andrews to work as one of her minions, a task which turns out to be harder than he ever imagined ? but also a life-changing experience.

In traditional tooth-fairy style, his job is to visit the homes of children who have lost their baby teeth and placed them under their pillows. In exchange for the tooth, the fairy traditionally leaves some money. As the new Tooth Fairy learns the tricks of his new trade, he becomes adept at the job and learns some valuable life lessons.

Children all over the world now see you as the ?Tooth Fairy.? Is that a big responsibility?

Johnson: It is very exciting for me because I think children everywhere will relate to the story because every culture has its own version of the Tooth Fairy.

Did you enjoy making the film?

The experience was phenomenal. The effects were great and the sets were built in such an incredible way, because a lot of the scenes required me to be shrunk down to six inches.

As a dad, how special is it making family films, particularly this one?

I became a parent eight years ago and I began to realize the importance of family movies. It is great when there?s a good message in there, too. As far as my little girl is concerned, it?s great to be able to make movies like this that she can see with her friends.

What do you hope audiences would get from this film?

I like the message and story, the power believing in dreams, believing in possibilities and believing in oneself.

?Tooth Fairy? opens Jan. 22 in local theaters, from 20th Century Fox, distributed by Warner Bros.