Over two dozen film adaptations of J.M. Barrie’s timeless play Peter Pan have set sail since its 1904 debut, so if you’re going to tackle this classic tale, you’d better bring a fresh perspective that’s brimming with pixie dust. So, does Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy take flight or crash land into Skull Rock?
Peter Pan & Wendy tells the story of Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson) and her two brothers, John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael (Jacobi Jupe). Wendy is growing up and will soon be attending boarding school soon, so her parents—Mr. Darling (Alan Tudyk) and Mrs. Darling (Molly Parker)—decree this night as her last in the adored childhood nursery. She dreads this change and being forced to grow up overnight, but that night, Peter Pan (Alexander Molony), a magical wild boy from Neverland, appears and whisks Wendy and her brothers away to his enchanted realm. Neverland is teeming with pirates, including Pan’s arch-nemesis, the nefarious Captain Hook (Jude Law), whose hand Pan famously severed and fed to a crocodile. Wendy meets Pan’s crew of motley crew of orphans, the Lost Boys, and teams up with them to rescue Neverland.
Peter Pan & Wendy guts the souls from both the original play and Disney’s 1953 animated classic, Peter Pan, tossing their essence to the crocodile without a second thought. It disregards these important elements, draining every ounce of purity, intrigue, musicality, and profundity from the works and it fills the void with nothing.
In this version, Disney avoids showing a woman wanting children, desiring motherhood, getting jealous, betraying their friends, or even displaying the most mild maternal tendencies. So, instead of Wendy becoming a pseudo-mother to the Lost Boys or sharing stories with them and Pan, we get a swashbuckling girl boss who takes charge to save the day, taking over Pan’s role. This hollow character is painfully uninteresting and falls flat. In a scene where Wendy’s life flashes before her eyes, we see her achieving amazing feats—except having a family—ultimately dying alone on a couch. Clearly, Disney didn’t have any faith, trust, or the pixie dust in the original story or themes. It’s a shame because Ever Anderson does a wonderful job with what she’s given.
Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi) is equally lifeless. In animation, her inability to speak allows for her exaggerated sass, over-the-top gestures, and jealousy to shine, but that energy doesn’t translate here. She’s not particularly feisty or envious—she exists simply to sprinkle pixie dust before fading away. There’s no betrayal of Pan, no character growth, no arc. Even when she’s on screen, she acts in the most bland and uninspired way possible.
Compared to the 1953 version, this film feels like it dislikes women. All the fun female elements of the original are erased or diminished. Wendy is no longer the nurturing mother figure, the jealous mermaids are reduced to a flyby cameo in the opening scene, and Tinker Bell is sidelined.
Peter Pan feels reminiscent of a young Daniel Radcliffe in the first Harry Potter film—a boy with limited acting chops cast in a role that might be too big for him. His delivery is flat and monotonous in nearly every scene. This version of Pan is more ruthless, which is closer to the play; however, he lacks the mischievous, devious, boyish charm that made the 1953 Peter so beloved.
The cinematography is oppressively dark. The opening scene, featuring the children getting ready for bed and playing in the nursery—one of the better scenes in the movie from a storytelling perspective—makes you desperately want to flip a light switch because it’s so dim and hard to see. Modern Hollywood needs to reconsider its obsession with visual realism because it’s just not working; the art or color and lighting has been lost. Regarding the film’s color, its monochromatic palette might be fine in the real world of London if it were contrasted with a vibrant Neverland, but instead, we get an equally dull landscape in the magical world. Rather than lush jungles and crystal-blue waters, we’re stuck with a boring, flat, grassy island, evoking the Cliffs of Dover or seaside England.
As with many Disney remakes, the filmmakers attempt to build up the villain to be more relatable by introducing a sympathetic backstory. Captain Hook is no exception. Nuggets relating to Hook and Pan’s relationship are fresh and compelling, but the film doesn’t dig deep enough to make them pay off. We needed more flashbacks of Hook’s childhood and a clearer progression of how he became the evil pirate captain we know—not just one diatribe he delivers to Wendy.
If you’re going to do a remake of a classic, there are really only two ways to go: 1) a faithful, scene-by-scene adaptation that keeps the essence of the original intact, or 2) a bold departure with new story elements, characters, and situations that create a fresh experience. We get neither. Instead, we’re left with a neutered version of the 1953 animated film—mostly the same, except for eliminating key characters and themes because they’re deemed offensive by the higher-ups. The Natives Americans, close friends of Peter and the Lost Boys, are pushed to the sidelines and have little interaction with them at all. The playful cat-and-mouse game between the Native Americans and the Lost Boys is gone. The Chief, the male warriors, and the big bossy squaw are eliminated, with Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatâhk) elevated to the de facto leader, leaving just with a few Indians sitting around in the background. Tiger Lily and her team pop up when the plot demands it, only to disappear in the blink of an eye—convenient but hollow.
Peter Pan & Wendy is a drab, dull remake of a work that is naturally overflowing with color, inspiration, and profound themes. If you’re not going to do anything exciting and instead just strip it down to the bones, why bother with a remake at all? This is a film nobody needs to see. There are plenty of amazing Peter Pan adaptations out there—nearly any of them would be better than this.
★★
Peter Pan & Wendy is available to stream on Disney+ on April 28, 2023.
