Peter Pan & Wendy: a rather disjointed adventure
As a kid, I lost count of the number of times I watched the original 1953 animated film on the old VHS we had in the house. Then I remember getting the DVD of the live-action Peter Pan released in 2003 – I remember falling in love with the story all over again. I even had hopes for something bigger in 2015 with the release of Pan; I thought maybe it could be the start of a series that would end with Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991) starring Robin Williams in the titular role. The story of Peter Pan and Neverland has fascinated me all my life to the point where to this day, Geraldine McCaughrean’s Peter Pan in Scarlet is still one of my favourite books.
But upon seeing the trailer for yet another Disney nostalgia trip, I didn’t have high hopes. Though I was ever excited to see Jude Law take on the role of Hook, the setting seemed dark and the plot seemed to have shifted to focus on Wendy with little attention given to Peter. So you could say I’ve been somewhat hesitant to watch it since its release on Disney+.
For those who haven’t seen it yet, it’s closer thematically to the 2003 live-action rendition. It’s dark, gritty, and a far cry from the bright colours and sporadic adventure portrayed in the original animated film. They have given more depth to Hook, more character to Wendy, and changed Peter’s narrative to be a bit more on the nose, but the story itself is a little stop-start.
Rescuing John and Michael from the cavern was a great moment. The conflict in the Lost Boys’ den was a great moment. The climax on the pirate ship and the revelation with Hook was by far my favourite moment. There are a lot of good moments, but I feel that is part and parcel of being a Disney film – they’ve grown exceptionally good at creating moments and not films, and Peter Pan & Wendy is no exception. In between those moments, the film was, in my opinion, lacking. There wasn’t much to take you from one moment to the next, it just did what was needed to follow the story of Peter Pan, to take us from the Darling children arriving in Neverland to them all living happily ever after in the end.
Now despite the overall bitty nature of the film, the narrative was rather surprising. I actually enjoyed it. I thought the story they were trying to tell was compelling, but my issue is that Peter essentially plays no part in it. Similar to Scourge in A Christmas Carol, the role could have easily been given over to the ghosts of Hook’s past, present, and future as Peter only serves as a catalyst for his narrative and as a way to strengthen his connection with Wendy. Wendy, however, is shown to be the stronger character at every turn: she is intelligent and compassionate, she is a storyteller, a swordsman, a realist, a believer, and a dreamer, all while holding on to her childlike understanding and innocence. Peter is outshone and made redundant in his own story, so thus my question: why not write a new story?
Sadly when it comes to both current and future releases, I think a lot of people are asking this question of Disney. They have been riding the nostalgia train for a while now under the guise of re-imaginings and that train doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon which in itself is a shame. Old fans are becoming disgruntled with changes made to beloved classics and new fans aren’t getting anything new. I can’t even say Peter Pan & Wendy was anything new. Sure it was interesting, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back to it any time soon – and if my partner wants to watch Peter Pan, then I’ll be sitting him down with the 2003 live-action version as nothing yet has come close to it.
