The new live action version of "Peter Pan"
is a heartbreaking movie. For every moment that had me in
welling up in tears,
there are two that left me either nonplussed or worse, blasé.
Mr. and Mrs. Darling (Jason Isaacs, "The Patriot" and Olivia
Williams, "The Sixth Sense") are worried about their daughter
Wendy. Wendy's Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) wants to reinvent
the adventurous girl (Rachel Hurd-Wood) into a dull young
lady. But a boy who can fly steals Wendy and her two brothers
away from the dreary English existence to live amongst mermaids,
lost boys and pirates. Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) and his
rambunctious fairy Tinkerbell (Ludivine Sagnier, "Swimming
Pool") sprinkle fairy dust on the three kids and they all
fly off to Neverland.
Once on the island, they battle the vicious Captain Hook
(also played by Isaacs) and his band of cruel pirates. Through
their adventures, Wendy blossoms into adulthood, but Peter
refuses to grow up and like the male in every modern relationship,
turns bitter and vindictive rather than melt to her feminine
charms.
But once Hook gets his nasty hand and hook on our heroine,
Peter must at least grow up a little.
Director PJ Hogan ("Muriel's Wedding") and his crew do fill
the screen with some resplendent images. Peter and the Darlings
fly above the Earth's atmosphere in into a cartoonish solar
system, filled with planets that look like glow-in-the-dark
sponges. They zoom off to another universe in a colorful
speed that evokes Douglas Trumbull's acid dropping experience
in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Once at Neverland, the effects
department made the red clouds look like fireballs while
the blue, cotton candy.
Some of the sequences were golden. The fairy dance juxtaposed
beside Peter and Wendy's waltz was stirring. A quick shot
of the infamous ticking crocodile trapping Captain Hook between
a rock is a great shock.
In a touching moment, Peter returns to the Darling home to
find Mrs. Darling standing guard at the children's nursery.
She has equated the open window as a safe return entrance
for her children, while Peter sees the window as escape route
to take his precious Wendy away from him. The two wrestle
for the window, both desperate for the Darling kids in their
life.
In the best scene, Peter Pan uses mind control to force everyone
on the planet, including the pirates, to save Tinkerbell
by saying, "I do believe in fairies." The scene captures
the magic missing in the rest of this dark film.
Unfortunately, Hogan has created a gruesome children's film.
Tinkerbell tries to kill Wendy; Hook guts a crew member and
shoots another in the chest in cold blood which we witness
up close. The mermaids are maniacal who attempt to drown
Wendy.
Hogan doesn't know when to keep the camera on his subjects.
Peter and Wendy's kiss, and their dance were compelling enough
moments on their own merit, yet Hogan keeps cutting away
to reaction shots that cheat the audience of an emotional
payoff.
Wood is enchanting as Wendy, full of youthful energy but
capable of great maturity. Sumpter had a dull drone of a
voice that makes it difficult to care for him. He does have
an engaging Peck's bad boy grin. Flirty but spiteful, Sagnier
is delicious as a malevolent Tinkerbell. Even at her tiny
size, her expressions are gigantic.
Isaacs also gives an interesting interpretation of Hook,
not foppish like Dustin Hoffman. When we first see the character,
we see his amputated hand. He resembles a Vietnam vet. This
is not the first time that the same actor has portrayed Hook
and Mr. Darling, but with this film, the correlation has
not been made. Had Darling been more cruel or cold, his metamorphosis
into Hook would have been telling.
Peter Pan had the potential of splendor, but this version
is not much better than Steven Spielberg's disaster "Hook."
If you're desperate for pirates, Yo Ho over to "Pirates of
the Caribbean" instead. Grade C |
