Just as JM Barrie’s Peter Pan always stays young, the stage and screen adaptations of his story are never-ending – like the latest Joe Wright, for example. Pan (2015) and Benh Zeitlin Wendy (2020). Now add to this endless parade Peter Pan and Wendydirector David Lowery’s second live-action Disney adaptation after 2016 Pete’s Dragon, largely dependent on the source material. Filled with limiting energy, but with little meaningful invention, it climbs to only modest heights under the weight of its inability to add much to the iconic legend.
Adapted from both Barrie’s novel and the 1953 animated film, Peter Pan and Wendy (airing April 28 on Disney+) isn’t much different from Disney’s other remakes in many ways, and it follows the lines of its ancestors in ways that are faithful if not particularly interesting. In London, the hallways and rooms of George (Alan Tudyk) and Mary Darling (Molly Parker) begin in their home, resonating with the voices of children, particularly acting actors John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael (Jacobi Jupe). Being Peter Pan and Captain Hook, getting into a massive sword fight.
Lowery’s camera runs and glides alongside them, up the steep stairs and onto the beds where they jump with boundless excitement. On the go, the spirit of the action is adolescent and dynamic, only to be offset by the unhappiness of her older sister, Wendy (Ever Anderson), who is now saddened to be leaving for boarding school and will follow her. mother’s footsteps.
Faced with this momentous milestone, Wendy scowls, “Maybe I don’t want to grow up,” and these words prove to be magic, vividly summoning Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi), whose voice is so soft that it can only be heard. by a very close listener – and his right-hand man, Peter Pan (Alexander Molony). Peter’s arrival comes as a shock to the Darling children, as they believe he is more of a bedtime story than a real boy. “Why can’t I be both?” wisely and Peter and Wendy Thus, he tirelessly challenges himself to make the immature hero both the stuff of legend and an easily relatable flesh and blood individual.
It’s a trick that’s been tried many times before, and thanks to newcomer Molony, the movie’s masterful stunt portrays its hero in its hallmark high-flying, mischievous form, and yet tries to dig deep—or at least a tiny bit. a little deeper than usual–to the wounds that compelled him to avoid adulthood at all costs.
Thanks to happy thoughts and a little Tinker Bell fairy dust, Wendy, John and Michael soon fly with Peter on their way to Neverland, where Peter engages in an endless war against the cowardly Captain Hook (Jude Law) and his colorful pirate gang. . .
Peter Pan and Wendy He sets the villain apart from his predecessors by giving him long slick hair and a messy beard to match his giant mustache, and a slightly tatty costume that looks like it’s gone through several battles without being cleaned properly. Law snarls and bellows ostentatiously, all of which instills a victimized heart in Hook – as the film will reveal at the end of the film – due to the fact that he was once Peter’s best friend, but was rejected by his friend when he started to miss his mother and left. while searching for her, she brings back a desperate (and, according to Peter, “evil”) adult.
Lowery and Toby Halbrooks’ script closely knits Peter and Hook as kindred spirits trapped in an endless struggle with longing and fear for home, mother, and friendship. This gives the twist Peter and Wendy It’s a distinctive personality line, like a few weak feminist swaggers designed to empower Wendy.
Still, the movie doesn’t play much with its mostly beloved story. Wendy, John and Michael meet the Lost Boys. Peter argues with Hook. He cries out to his stupid sidekick, Mr. Smee (an excellent Jim Gaffigan), that he hates hook rails and clocks. Children are kidnapped. Ships take flight. And Peter mocks his one-handed foe with a playful arrogance aimed at pleasing younger audiences as much as he infuriates them.
Save for Daniel Hart’s score to temporarily mimic John Williams Jurassic Park theme, Peter and Wendy He doesn’t make a big mistake in his journey. However, it doesn’t do much to deeply justify its own existence. As he climaxes, a few timid touches seep into the trial: Peter’s announcement that he and Hook are fighting “one last time” is transmitted in a wink; A pirate goes for a nap and tells the others to wake him up if either one finally beats the other. Yet, like its previous nods to the role of storyteller in Peter’s saga, the film only flirts with bigger ideas; In the most important respects, it’s content to be the same old thing in newer, more fancy CGI sequences.
If it’s more of a reinvention than a reinvention, Peter Pan and Wendy Benefits from Lowery’s expert management. Several aspects of his sophomore trip to Disney show traces of his previous work: his low-angle compositions and the natural splendor of Neverland are reminiscent of Malick’s beauty. Aren’t Bodies Saints?; images of light shining through the forest Pete’s Dragon; and the mossy, ancient ruins where Peter and the Lost Boys lived boast a tale. To Green Knight-esque splendor.
Better still, Lowery and cinematographer Bojan Bazelli’s camerawork is electrified, floating, spinning, twitching, tilting, and spinning with an appropriate roar. From the vantage point of floating cannonballs and arrows to the playful chase between Peter and his disobedient shadow, Lowery captures the frenetic spirit of this ancient adventure.
However, not all aesthetic wonders in the world can rise. Peter Pan and Wendy beyond being a successful pantomime. Disney’s endless desire to mine its popular properties for profit depends on the belief that remakes are most likely to succeed if they are safe and comforting copies. It is indisputable that the results show that much, at least in terms of final evaluations. Yet such an approach makes them creatively pointless endeavors that are doomed to inherit their glorious ancestors as well. Despite its charm and polish, Lowery’s last seems to suffer the same fate.
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