Peter Pan & Wendy
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 The one where they confirmed people's fears of Peter being a creepy psychopath... and mutilated just about everything else.
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Peter Pan & Wendy is a 2023 American fantasy adventure film directed by David Lowery based on a script co-written by him and Toby Halbrooks. Jim Whitaker produced the Walt Disney Pictures production, which is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney's 1953 animated feature Peter Pan, which was based on J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (also known as Peter and Wendy) and its 1911 novel adaptation.
Plot
Peter Pan and Wendy introduces Wendy Darling, a young girl afraid to leave her childhood home behind, who meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Alongside her brothers and a tiny fairy, Tinker Bell, she travels with Peter to the magical world of Neverland. There, she encounters an evil pirate captain, Captain Hook, and embarks on a thrilling and dangerous adventure that will change her life forever.
Why It Can't Fly
- To get the elephant out of the bedroom, it's another soulless and run-of-the-mill Disney live-action remake. There is simply nothing that makes this film stand out from the other Peter Pan live-action films and the original 1953 film.
- Just like any other Disney film these past years, including Strange World, Disney did a poor job marketing this movie. This has led to many speculations that Disney wants this movie to fail on purpose.
- The film has shockingly terrible lighting and color for Disney's standards. Even though it's supposed to be a Peter Pan remake, there is nothing magical about desaturated colors. It seemed like a bad decision on Disney's part, knowing what the original film looked like.
- Some locations, such as Neverland, require more focus. Only Captain Hook's ship and the hideout are seen. While we do get glimpses of some of the locations, they are very brief, like the Indian tribe.
- While the film has representation, it doesn't do a good job at what it's supposed to do. Especially when people from those groups feel like the film's representation is insincere.
- Peter Pan was heavily butchered in this film. In the original film, he was immature and selfish. While some might see those as bad traits, the 1953 film does a good job of still making him likable and hilarious to watch. But compared in the live-action remake, he is now a boring and safe character. They also don't show Peter's negative, immature side in this film, and that's why he became such a boring character. And to make his character even more unlikable, he stalks Wendy in this film. What's the point of making your characters safer if they're going to be even more unlikable than their original counterparts?
- They also character assassinated one of, if not the, best characters in the film, Captain Hook. They tried to make his character more sympathetic in this film, but they forgot one crucial detail: to make him a cunning villain. Despite him being pathetic in the 1953 film, he is still intelligent in some ways, such as when he tricked Tinker Bell into telling her where Peter Pan's hideout is. While his original character is actually smart, this version of Captain Hook finds Wendy and the lost boys by sheer coincidence.
- Speaking of character assassinations, they also made Wendy even more boring. At the beginning of the film, she never wanted to grow up and was aware of what happened in Neverland. But after one fight with Captain Hook, she suddenly doesn't want to stay in Neverland and wants to grow up. Because of the pacing, it feels much more abrupt.
- The acting feels very shockingly emotionless, like Peter Pan's actor, and even from actors such as Alan Tudyk and John DeSantis. The other kids don't do much better at acting either.
- It's also sad that Alan Tudyk gives a bad and emotionless performance as George Darling, especially since he is usually a great actor who does better jobs voicing characters in films, such as Dutch Gerhardt in 28 Days, Wat in A Knight's Tale, Steve "Pirate" Cowan in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, King Candy in the Wreck It Ralph franchise, The Duke of Weselton and the Northuldra Leader in the Frozen franchise, Ludo and River Butterfly in Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Windgust in The Good Dinosaur, Duke Weaselton in the Zootopia franchise, K-2SO in Rouge One, Heihei in the Moana and the Villager #3, KnowsMore in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Iago in the 2019 remake of Aladdin, the House of Tomorrow's A.I. in the The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse episode "House of Tomorrow", Tuk Tuk in Raya and the Last Dragon, Arcade in M.O.D.O.K., Pico in Encanto, the Scroll in Disenchanted, the Narrator, the Radio Host 1, and Duffle in Strange World, the Mad Hatter in "Once Upon a Studio", and even Valentino in Wish (despite Wish being mediocre).
- Some characters aren't seen as much, such as Michael and John Darling, mainly due to this film having the focus only on Peter Pan and Hook. In addition to the mermaids and crocodiles showing up in only one scene and nothing more.
- There isn't that much comedy or levity in this film, to the point where it feels way too depressing to be a kids film. There are much more serious scenes where the characters talk than comedy. While it is good for a film to tackle serious topics, Peter Pan & Wendy doesn't do a good job at balancing comedy and seriousness. Not to mention that there is so much telling that it forgets to show, which is a critical role of filmmaking.
- Some scenes may be too gruesome for kids, such as when the crocodile eats multiple people in a scene. There was also a scene in the film where Captain Hook slices Peter Pan with his sword, and you can see blood pouring out of Peter Pan's wound. Seconds later, Peter Pan falls down a 10-story drop and falls through the floor.
- Spoilers: Peter Pan's shadow alerts Tiger Lily that Peter Pan is hurt, so she stitches his wounds shut, and now Peter Pan is brought back to life.
Redeeming Qualities
- What makes this film stand out from all the other live-action remakes is that it's not a total rehash when you compare it to the original film. Peter Pan & Wendy actually tried new things instead of copying and pasting, which was unexpected despite it still being a terrible film.
- Speaking of which, Captain Hook being a former lost boy and being Peter's friend would've been a good idea if it wasn't portrayed poorly.
- Similar to Return to Never Land, They got rid of the racism from the 1953 Disney film.
- The visual effects are beautifully nice for Peter Pan & Wendy, and a massive upgrade from past Disney remakes, especially for a 2023 film.
- This movie was also a passion project from David Lowery, so you can't be too harsh on it if the director was a fan of the original and wanted to make it for a new generation.
- Some of the acting is decent to good, such as both Ever Anderson (best known as young Natasha Romanoff in Black Widow) and Yara Shahidi as Wendy and Tinkerbell respectively.
- In fact, Ever Anderson was a perfect casting choice for Wendy.
- Despite him doing bad acting, it is great to see Bill Jukes in a movie after seven years.
- Despite this movie being completely unnecessary, it is great to see another Peter Pan movie after Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Never Beast.
Reception
Despite receiving mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, it was panned by audiences, receiving an 11% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 1.5 user score on Metacritic. The movie sits at a 4.4 IMDb rating, making it one of the lowest rated audience-rated Disney live-action movies.
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