Peter Pan & Wendy (2023 | United States | 106 minutes | David Lowery)
The story of Peter Pan hasn’t changed much since its original publishing in 1911 by J.M. Barrie. A boy who refuses to grow up, comes from a magical place called Neverland, meets a girl who changes his life forever, but even after some wonderful adventures together and coming to love her, he still wasn’t convinced it was time to set aside boyish things.
Disney’s original animated feature of the same story, released in 1953, is one of their seminal films with countless spinoffs, retellings and re-imaginings. Let’s be real, Hook, Sony Picture’s version of the story from a slightly more Captain Hook-centric view is a classic in its own right. So I asked myself, what more could they do? What’s so special and interesting about this version that hasn’t already been done to death a la Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk (oh come on, you were thinking it too)?
Even with a healthy dose of skepticism planted firmly in the back of my head, I found this rendition of the age-old story wonderful. Yes, it’s been done over and over on the stage, in the animation studio and on film. I’ll even say that I wasn’t particularly blown away by this portrayal. As a matter of fact, I was slightly let down at the lack of adventures mined from Barrie’s original text. There was more than enough to choose from and even a few he insinuated but didn’t expand on that could have been explored with heady abandon of the imagination, but I digress.
As for acting, I don’t know who put this cast together but I’d love to give them a big hug. Peter (Alexander Molony) could have outshined the rest of his co-stars, but he didn’t and I found that refreshing. While his name is in the title, the story isn’t all about Peter and his antics. The same goes for young Wendy (Ever Anderson), who could have brought an intensity that overshadowed the story of the lost boys and Peter himself, but wove wonderfully with everyone including Hook. Speaking of the captain, Jude Law could have also taken center stage, but instead director David Lowery kept a lid on the performance just enough so that no one took on the role of “lead” at any given time. Law’s performance was compelling and tender, not a look that Captain Hook tends to exude; yet it was the perfect fit as was Jim Gaffigan’s Smee. Yara Shahidi’s Tinkerbell was thankfully a far cry from Julia Roberts’ version in Hook with a subtle but effective performance and was just one example of the beautifully diverse cast that had been absent in most other depictions.
Despite a lack of complexity or delving into new material, Peter Pan & Wendy was well-executed, well-acted and plain ol’ gave me the warm fuzzies. It was slightly dark, but nowhere near Grimm Fairy Tales, emotionally entangling, but not sobbing-out-loud-in-the-theater sad; it was just good. In the age of “how dark can we go before a 10 year old shouldn’t be watching this” I’m happy to say that this one doesn’t push the envelope for shock factor’s sake. It simply tells the story of a girl too frightened of the future to be happy about growing up, finding out that it’s not so bad, while still remembering the joys of wishes, fairies and magic. The focus is on the story, and what a wonderful tale it weaves.
Peter Pan & Wendy is available today for streaming exclusively on Disney+.