April 28, 2023
FILM: PETER PAN AND WENDY
DIRECTED BY: DAVID LOWERY
STARRING: ALEXANDER MOLONY, EVER ANDERSON, JUDE LAW
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
It’s been interesting in the past few months viewing stories like Peter Pan and Pinocchio with fresh eyes. The new adaptations of these Disney classics are being brought back to life by some of today’s significant directors, David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight) helmed the former while Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) won an Oscar for the latter. Both directors bring new perspectives to these stories and generally make them darker and perhaps closer to the originating source material’s intent. But do they make for better movies? I was a fan of del Toro’s Pinocchio as it was visually inventive. Not pleasant, but definitely aesthetically pleasing.
So, what does Lowery do with the story of Peter Pan? Well, the title alone says a lot. Here, Wendy is given equally billing to Peter, thus we now have Peter Pan and Wendy. She is the major character and tough fighter at that. Peter is the boy who doesn’t want to grow up where as Wendy begins that way but finds something acceptable about maturity. The casting of Wendy is also interesting. Ever Anderson looks a bit older as Wendy than Alexander Molony does as Peter. She’s sort of like Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, perhaps a bit too old for the part and much further into adolescence. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it foreshadows her further strength and power as well as her more mature philosophy on aging.
On that note, much of the film suggests that youth can win over the old fogies in their world like Captain Hook, played by Jude Law. With the makeup used on the actor, Law is transformed into a haggard, evil-looking figure. Besides Wendy’s very traditional looking parents, he is the representation of what one should expect when they grow older. Peter and his boys fight Hook and his pirates, appearing almost on equal footing. Their youthful spirit leads to a series of victories. This made me wonder about the original book and movie. Were they really suggesting that our culture would embrace youth as much as it has in the last sixty to seventy years? Getting older used to be given respect, now it is seen as something to avoid. It then does become a bit refreshing when Wendy embraces the idea of aging. Maybe there is something to be learned from growing older.
Beyond all of this I question how much of the new film will appeal to younger audiences. It’s definitely not for small children as there are some pretty terrifying scenes and a lot of dark and unpleasant imagery. Perhaps Lowery wanted to take a story like this away from its fairy tale days and into something darker, closer to its grimmer roots. Still, younger audiences might enjoy the large number of fighting scenes which I found a bit much. There is more emphasis here on the action and effects than on the substance.
The film is also curiously a half musical. There are a few songs sprinkled here and there that are often not sung in full. It’s hard to determine what Lowery was going for with the songs as they feel more like preps for a future stage musical than for a fully-fledged screen version of this story.
Still, the film does make some interesting updates including the aforementioned elevation of Wendy as a hero. The cast itself is very diverse. It’s nice to see, for instance, the inclusion of an actor with Down’s Syndrome as one of Peter’s boys.
For me, the film was more action than fun. I prefer the kind of pirates we get in HBO’s great Our Flag Means Death series which is a lot more enjoyable and witty than most of Peter Pan and Wendy. But then, perhaps I am one of those old fogies who prefers dialogue and wit over flying people and boats.
Peter Pan and Wendy premieres today on Disney+.
FILM: PETER PAN AND WENDY
DIRECTED BY: DAVID LOWERY
STARRING: ALEXANDER MOLONY, EVER ANDERSON, JUDE LAW
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
It’s been interesting in the past few months viewing stories like Peter Pan and Pinocchio with fresh eyes. The new adaptations of these Disney classics are being brought back to life by some of today’s significant directors, David Lowery (A Ghost Story, The Green Knight) helmed the former while Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) won an Oscar for the latter. Both directors bring new perspectives to these stories and generally make them darker and perhaps closer to the originating source material’s intent. But do they make for better movies? I was a fan of del Toro’s Pinocchio as it was visually inventive. Not pleasant, but definitely aesthetically pleasing.
So, what does Lowery do with the story of Peter Pan? Well, the title alone says a lot. Here, Wendy is given equally billing to Peter, thus we now have Peter Pan and Wendy. She is the major character and tough fighter at that. Peter is the boy who doesn’t want to grow up where as Wendy begins that way but finds something acceptable about maturity. The casting of Wendy is also interesting. Ever Anderson looks a bit older as Wendy than Alexander Molony does as Peter. She’s sort of like Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, perhaps a bit too old for the part and much further into adolescence. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it foreshadows her further strength and power as well as her more mature philosophy on aging.
On that note, much of the film suggests that youth can win over the old fogies in their world like Captain Hook, played by Jude Law. With the makeup used on the actor, Law is transformed into a haggard, evil-looking figure. Besides Wendy’s very traditional looking parents, he is the representation of what one should expect when they grow older. Peter and his boys fight Hook and his pirates, appearing almost on equal footing. Their youthful spirit leads to a series of victories. This made me wonder about the original book and movie. Were they really suggesting that our culture would embrace youth as much as it has in the last sixty to seventy years? Getting older used to be given respect, now it is seen as something to avoid. It then does become a bit refreshing when Wendy embraces the idea of aging. Maybe there is something to be learned from growing older.
Beyond all of this I question how much of the new film will appeal to younger audiences. It’s definitely not for small children as there are some pretty terrifying scenes and a lot of dark and unpleasant imagery. Perhaps Lowery wanted to take a story like this away from its fairy tale days and into something darker, closer to its grimmer roots. Still, younger audiences might enjoy the large number of fighting scenes which I found a bit much. There is more emphasis here on the action and effects than on the substance.
The film is also curiously a half musical. There are a few songs sprinkled here and there that are often not sung in full. It’s hard to determine what Lowery was going for with the songs as they feel more like preps for a future stage musical than for a fully-fledged screen version of this story.
Still, the film does make some interesting updates including the aforementioned elevation of Wendy as a hero. The cast itself is very diverse. It’s nice to see, for instance, the inclusion of an actor with Down’s Syndrome as one of Peter’s boys.
For me, the film was more action than fun. I prefer the kind of pirates we get in HBO’s great Our Flag Means Death series which is a lot more enjoyable and witty than most of Peter Pan and Wendy. But then, perhaps I am one of those old fogies who prefers dialogue and wit over flying people and boats.
Peter Pan and Wendy premieres today on Disney+.