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Peter Pan

Okay, so most often we Cinema Source critics tend to be on roughly the same page about movies. Occasionally, though, there comes a time when two of our critics' opinions about a flick vary so wildly, we can't help but notice. Below you'll find Matt Pais' review of the DVD release of director P.J. Hogan's live-action version of Peter Pan. Beneath that, you'll find a link to Alysa Salzberg's review of the movie's theatrical release. While one critic is utterly enchanted by the film, the other is…well, not, to say the least. Read on, and enjoy this sort of battle in words.

Peter Pan

Review by: Matt Pais
MattPais@TheCinemaSource.com

Most children know the directions for how to get to Neverland—second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning, for those who have grown up and forgotten—but there are more than a few wrong turns in P.J. Hogan’s baffling live-action take on Peter Pan. Made classic by Disney’s animated adaptation and the renowned but hokey Mary Martin version, the J.M. Barrie story is meant to be a freewheeling allegory of aging and caging, as kids escape the pressure of parents and getting older by fleeing to a more kid-friendly fantasyland than Six Flags.

There was always an odd juxtaposition of repression, violence, and the maturing process lying within the seemingly harmless premise, but the candy-coated cartoon hid it well. Hogan’s more modern edition, complete with oodles of CGI effects and unsettling sexual innuendo, glosses over the original old-fashioned purity and winds up as a film meant for neither kids nor adults.

Based in Britain in a non-specific time period, the story of Peter Pan has lost lots of its wonder over the years. In this uneven, awkward retelling, newcomer Jeremy Sumpter plays the eternally youthful title character not like an energetic young boy but as a moody, commitment-phobic adolescent idiot. Sparks fly as Peter whisks Wendy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and her brothers John and Michael (Harry Newell and Freddie Popplewell) out of their bedroom window towards Neverland, but when Wendy wants their relationship to grow, Peter hesitates. “We have fun together,” he says. “Isn’t that enough?”

Hopefully Peter Pan isn’t meant to be an insight into modern sexuality between pre-teens, but it does pile on deliberately sexual images intended to push the thematic boundaries of the famed family fable. The first time Wendy sees Peter, she is lying in bed as he hovers above her, ready to descend before she can wake up. As they exchange kisses, the script by Hogan and Michael Goldenberg romanticizes the interaction between the two pre-pubescent characters with a tone that’s out of place in Neverland but might fit nicely at the Neverland Ranch.

The flying scenes are laughable, as the children are shoddily super-imposed over standard blue-screen backgrounds. There’s no soaring joy to these shots; the special effects are just plain cheap, and whenever Peter Pan tries to take off, ...