Never Say Never to Neverland
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to movie theaters, even as I’ll have to sacrifice seeing wonders like The Pope’s Exorcist (Julius Avery).
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: In early 20th-century London, a young boy, John Darling (Joshua Pickering), and his even-younger-brother, Michael Darling (Jacobi Jupe), are play-battling with wooden swords, taking on the roles of Peter Pan and Captain Hook, which they must know about in this fictional version of our world from fairy tale books; soon their almost-teen-sister, Wendy (Ever Anderson), joins in the fray, trying to take her mind off tomorrow when she’ll be off to boarding school as her parents want her to start acting like an adult, serve as a calming role model for her active brothers rather than participating in their fantasy adventures. As the parents, George and Mary Darling (Alan Tudyk, Molly Parker), head out for the evening Wendy expresses her desire to never grow up which brings on a surprising visit from the actual Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) who’s been eavesdropping on Wendy’s parental-conflicts while also looking for his shadow which he thinks may well be in the Darlings’ home. With the help of his tiny fairy companion, Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi), they do find the shadow in a drawer, Peter finally captures it, Wendy sews it back onto his feet. Then Peter explains how thinking happy thoughts while being sprinkled with Tink’s pixie dust will allow them to fly so soon they’ll all off to never-aging-Neverland, much to the puzzlement of the family “baby-sitter” dog, Nana.
When they arrive at this far-off-other-world (actually, just a large island in a vast ocean), they’re immediately attacked by Hook (Jude Law), his first mate, Mr. Smee (Jim Gaffigan), and the rest of the pirates, their cannon balls forcing Pan and the Darlings down to the ground where Wendy becomes separated from the others, then comes upon Peter’s tribe of Lost Boys (which also includes some girls in this version of the story)—all of whom have been willingly taken away from our world so they won't grow up—and Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatâhk), from the local Indigenous tribe. Using a telescope they watch Hook capture John and Michael, then take them to Skull Rock where they’re chained to boulders to await drowning from the rising tide (Hook says “No children in Neverland!” yet he’s obviously never been able to capture Peter or any of the Boys). Peter slips in, disguised as a pirate, reveals himself to duel with Hook, while the Lost Boys, Wendy, and Tinker Bell rescue her brothers, with everyone finally fleeing when Hook’s attacked by his mortal enemy, a huge crocodile who once ate Hook’s hand after Peter cut it off, has been chasing Hook ever since to dine further on his body (so Hook tossed an alarm clock down the beast’s throat in order for its ticking to warn Hook of the croc’s approach). The Darlings are taken to the secret lair of Peter and the Lost Boys, where Wendy begins to realize she misses her mother, talks of a mother’s love to the Boys, sings them a lullaby, but the sound of this song allows Hook and the pirates to know where they are.
In the meantime, Peter explains to Wendy how he and Hook (then called James before the later repair on his hand with the hook) were best friends in Neverland, but James badly missed his Mom so Peter banished him back to our world where he never found his mother, was raised to adulthood by these pirates, then took them—ship and all (never explained; too complicated, I’m sure)—back to Neverland where Peter was repulsed by the evil he now found in James, then cut off his hand in one of their duels so angry-rejection toward the other by both of them has intensified over time. Hook’s crew manages to capture the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell, and the Darlings while Peter and Hook battle, with Pan seemingly falling to his death. Tiger Lily learns of Peter’s predicament from his once-again-liberated-shadow (?), brings him back to health, so they're off to the pirate ship where Wendy’s forced to walk the plank but is rescued just in time by escaped Tink whose pixie dust not only allows Wendy to fly but leads to her desire to grow up; she suddenly becomes a dueling-aggressor against the pirates as John, Michael, the Lost Boys, and Tiger Lily join in the fray, while Tinker Bell covers the ship with the magic dust, allowing it to float high above the water, even as Hook and Pan battle once again up on a tall mast. ⇒Peter then surprisingly apologizes to James for having been a bad friend, but Wendy commands the ship’s wheel, turns the whole vessel upside down, which dumps all of the pirates into the ocean. At this point, the Lost Boys decide they’d like to go home after all, so the whole new crew sails back to London on the enchanted boat. After arriving, Wendy introduces the Boys to her parents, then goes onto the roof to talk with Peter who reveals he once lived in this house but had a bad relationship with his mother so (somehow?) he went off to Neverland, vowing to never grow up, a feeling he still has so he and Tink take the ship back to the alternate-world where they find Hook and Smee survived the fall, with an unverified sense they may all become friends again (however, with only the 4 of them and the Indigenous tribe left to occupy the island, I guess).⇐
So What? Certainly Peter Pan & Wendy, while built upon characters originally found in J.M. Barrie's play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904), followed by his novelization, Peter and Wendy (1911)—later extended to Peter Pan and Wendy—(the play concept dramatized in the film Finding Neverland [Marc Forster, 2004], so those who say Wendy's role has been greatly extended in this current 2023 movie are correct although the title has a long history), is somewhat of a direct live-action-version of Disney's own animated feature, Peter Pan (Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson; 1953), but it contains notable differences from the Disney original, which are illustrated in this video (14:15; Spoilers; ad interrupts at 11:09). Then, if you want to go further into the vast Peter Pan backstory you can watch this video (12:20; ads interrupt at 3:27, 9:18) comparing topics within (supposedly) all of the Neverland-oriented-movies (although this site lists a few others) so you can get references to not only the 2 Disney versions but also a silent Peter Pan (Herbert Brenon, 1924), the 2003 Peter Pan (P.J. Hogan), and the ones that deviate the most from the original, Hook (Steven Spielberg, 1991) in which an adult Peter (Robin Williams) has matured in our world but is forced on a rescue mission back to Neverland to save his children from Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), and Pan (Joe Wright, 2015) with none of these final 4 connected to the Disney output (although there are interesting inclusions in each of these that either reinforce the Barrie original or give some inspiration to what Disney is now offering in their Peter Pan & Wendy).*
*Other possible items of interest in this realm are Rotten Tomatoes rankings of all Peter Pan movies (1924 version coming up surprisingly on top with 98% positive reviews, based on 42 of them [the current movie would come in at #5, Disney’s animated version at #3 with 77% positives based on 39 reviews; this present one has a 94-review base]). By comparison, Screen Rant also offers Top 10 rankings of all Peter Pan movies in which Peter Pan & Wendy comes in at #5 also, the Disney animated classic rises to #2, and once again the 1924 version (which I’ve never seen) is #1.
While I haven’t seen many of the versions of the Neverland story noted above, I did enjoy the original Disney animation (as did the CCAL, see below) along with Hook (at least as I can best remember, but it’s an OCCU bomb with only 29% RT positives, a Metacritic average score of 52%) and Finding Neverland (RT 83% positive, MC 67% average score) This new Disney version certainly has commendable aspects, from a more assertive role for Wendy (who uses her foundational swordfighting skills from play with her brothers to accosting actual pirates in the final battle scene) to no hostility between Wendy and Tinker Bell (no romantic inclinations toward Peter here) to a further advancement by casting Shahidi who’s of African-American/Choctaw/Iranian descent, to a non-stereotypical presentation of Tiger Lily (also cast properly with Wapanatâhk of Bigstone Cree Nation Indigenous heritage for a change), along with a backstory about Peter and Hook that gives greater depth to both of them. At heart, this will always be a magical tale of longing to stay within the wonderworld of childhood imagination vs. the need to eventually face the reality of growing older, taking on real-world-responsibilities, appreciating how (most, but admittedly not all) parents need to be loved as caregivers not just disciplinarians. I’ve not a movie-marketing-specialist so I could be wrong in thinking Peter Pan & Wendy would succeed at the box-office, but either the studio for some reason didn’t have enough confidence in it to go for a theatrical release or maybe they just wanted something to likely boost further interest in Disney+ as they’re going through a financially-driven-reorganization-company-wide with layoffs and refocused priorities (not to mention their legal/PR struggles with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis). This rejuvenated Peter Pan story might be too “woke” for some viewers, although I found it a pleasure to watch (especially when I needed distraction last Friday night from a unexpected horrid loss in my basketball-playoff-interests).
Bottom Line Final Comments: I noted at the top of my previous posting I might not get to a review this week because I had a good number of other things on my agenda. Those Included hope my local (San Francisco) Golden State Warriors basketballers would rebound from a largely-forgettable season to move ahead during postseason playoffs, as they were up 3 games to 2 (needed 4 wins) against the nearby Sacramento Kings; well, Friday the Warriors were back at home, looking to wrap up the series, instead played poorly, lost by 19 points, forced into a deciding game 7 on Sunday in the state capital which they won triumphantly (120-100),* moving on yesterday to the Semi-Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers (and their old nemesis, the ever-dangerous LeBron James—although his towering-teammate, Anthony Davis, was the true problem on Tuesday) with the Warriors wasting home-court-advantage, losing by 5 points, so I’ll know by the next Two Guys posting how that series has progressed; for that matter regarding previous comments, the Oakland Athletics baseballers continue their miserable season, now with a record of 6-25 worst in the Majors. Of considerable pleasure by contrast was a Saturday birthday dinner with old friend Barry Caine** (retired film critic) who was instrumental in encouraging Pat Craig and me to start this blog back in 2011 (yet Pat’s been in the “beyond” realm of Bed, Bath and Beyond since then where the blog’s concerned, so, as that store goes fully into bankruptcy, Pat may just be farther adrift into the ozone).
*In another earlier posting I wondered if Warriors superstar Stephen Curry would do anything in the Kings series to further burnish his sure-to-be-Hall of Fame-accolades; he did, scoring the most points ever (50) in a playoff-must-win-Game 7. The A’s, by contrast, set a major-league-baseball record of 23 (of 27) losses in April; I hope they don’t keep doing that in future months, though their walk-off win last Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds finally gave them something to feel good about.
**Just to show you what kind of a cultured man of the arts Barry is, here's a dance video he sent to me recently, with more of the same automatically following immediately thereafter if you'd want it.
As fate would have it (as Texas singer-songwriter Steve Fromholz always said: "And, friends, fate will have it."), I did get some free time because of unusually-early-start-times for those basketball games, leading to this posting, addressing another of Disney's projects to remake their animated classic features into various combinations of live action/animation of Computer Generated Imagery, following earlier ones: Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, 2010), Maleficent (Robert Stromberg, 2014; review in our June 6, 2014 posting), Cinderella (Kenneth Branagh, 2015; review in our March 19, 2015 posting), The Jungle Book (Jon Favreau, 2016; review in our April 28, 2016 posting), Beauty and the Beast (Bill Condon, 2017; review in our March 23, 2017 posting), Dumbo (Burton, 2019; review in our April 4, 2019 posting), Aladdin (Guy Ritchie, 2019; review in our May 29, 2019 posting), The Lion King (Favreau, 2019; review in our July 25, 2019 posting), Mulan (Niki Caro, 2020; review in our September 17, 2020 posting [3½ stars, as most of my responses have been, just 1 at 4 stars, 1 at 3 stars, so I’ve been generally satisfied with these remakes}), with many more on the way in upcoming years, including very soon The Little Mermaid (Rob Marshall), May 26, 2023—I skipped others, the most recent being Pinocchio (Robert Zemeckis, 2022) due to terrible reviews along with more interest in what’s now an Animated Feature Oscar winner with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022; review in our December 15, 2022 posting) done in lovely, magnificent stop-motion-animation.
I found Peter Pan & Wendy to be charming enough—those same 3½ stars—fitting in nicely with the CCAL: RT 66% positive, MC a reasonably-close 61% average score; you can get it for free if you're a Disney+ subscriber, or even pay $7.99 for one month and see what else they might have for you in their Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, etc. collections. So, consider that until I return next week (reminiscing about how much I enjoyed the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland, sitting in a small pirate ship floating over portions of nighttime London and daytime Neverland) with whatever comes my way to watch as we conclude in this posting with my usual tactic of a Musical Metaphor, this time the "You Can Fly" song from the Disney animated movie as Peter (using Tink’s pixie dust) teaches Wendy, John, and Michael how to glide through the air past the second star to the right, on until morning, because it represents the initiation into an enticing alternate reality but also shows how you need magic to get there, implying for most of us we’ll be better off learning how to better adapt to the reality we must live through, desired or not. Nevertheless, happy landings wherever you may land!
*Even though Peter and Wendy are pre-teens, I think there's some early romance under the surface so to speak to Peter's private/gnawingly-true-response to her not coming back to Neverland with him I'll offer an unofficial Metaphor of the Beach Boys' "Wendy" (on their 1964 All Summer Long album).
SHORT TAKES
This isn’t about movies, but I’m including it anyway (OK, I know that basketball and baseball stuff isn’t filmic either, but, then, I highly doubt you turn to this blog for the kind of cinematic erudition you’d find in the Los Angeles Times or Film Quarterly). It was with great sorrow I found out about the death of Gordon Lightfoot, one of the greatest singer-songwriters I've ever been aware of. I spent many long, wonderful days and nights with very close friends in Austin, TX decades ago listening to and performing his songs. Later, I was fortunate enough to see him in person 3 times, so here's a mini-tribute to him (Enormous catalogue, hard to choose a few). His long, successful career ranged through many topics, but for me one of the most well-developed was the realities of life not working out the way we'd hoped, so here are some examples of that in order of increasing sorrow: "Steel Rail Blues", "Ten Degrees and Getting Colder", "Early Morning Rain", "Don Quixote". But he could also celebrate the wonders of life such as this one: "Beautiful." Rest In Peace, you marvelous artist. I'll close out with a bit of melancholy yet still so insightful as Lightfoot constantly found ways to teach us about the full spectrum of our complex experiences: "Summer Side of Life."
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