Rated PG - Running Time: 1:53 - Released 12/25/03
PETER PAN
Rated PG - Running Time: 1:53 - Released 12/25/03
Peter Pan, the fanciful tale of a boy who doesn’t
want to grow up, was first written as a play in 1904 by Scottish
author and playwright James Matthew Barrie (who apparently adapted
it from the bedtime stories he told to his five adopted sons),
and embellished into a book in 1911. One of the most famous children’s
stories of all time, Barrie’s tale has been adapted, rewritten,
reinterpreted, set to music, and produced no less than twelve
times for the big and little screen, ranging from filmed stage
productions, musicals, TV versions in Portuguese, Japanese, and
Russian, movies starring Mary Martin, Mia Farrow, and Cathy Rigby,
and of course the famous 1953 cartoon by Walt Disney Pictures.
It has even spawned what could be called sequels, such as the
1991 Spielberg-directed Robin Williams/Dustin Hoffman vehicle
Hook and the conventionally animated Disney cartoon Return To Never Land, released
just under 2 years ago. And that’s saying nothing about the
many live theatre productions of it which continue all over the
world to this day. Now, on the centennial anniversary of the original
stage show, we have the latest definitive version, directed by
P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend’s Wedding) from an adaptation
by Hogan and Michael Goldenberg. Apparently, Disney originally
intended to co-produce the film, but pulled out during contract
negotiations. Hogan’s version, which adheres more closely
to the original text than most of its predecessors, has been criticized
by some (including Barrie’s family) as being too “adult,”
but it’s still pretty tame by today’s standards. There
is a detectable hint of romantic chemistry between Peter and Wendy,
but it’s not as if they’re gettin’ it on.
On the contrary, Hogan’s version is childlike, fantastic,
and colorful, and ably captures the strange poetry of Barrie’s
text. It is notable that Peter is played in this production by
a boy (14-year-old Jeremy Sumpter); perhaps the long-standing
and confusing tradition of casting flat-chested petite women in
the role has finally passed. Sumpter is adequately boyish as Peter,
and his female co-star (newcomer Rachel Hurd-Wood) makes a suitably
whimsical Wendy. Playing the dual roles of Wendy’s father,
Mr. Darling, and Peter’s nemesis, Captain James Hook, is
Jason Isaacs, who will probably be most recognizable to children
in the audience as the man who played Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter And The
Chamber Of Secrets. Isaacs is wild-eyed and fanciful as
Hook, and equally boring and ineffectual as Darling; the contrast
is intended, since the story is supposed to be a dreamlike situation
in which Wendy and her brothers confuse people and events from
real life with the surrealistic events on the pirate- and Indian-inhabited
island of Never Land.
The film is most enjoyable in that setting, of course; Hogan’s
treatment of Never Land is fairly bursting with wonder and magic,
using every color of the rainbow and all the saturation and sweetening
techniques currently available in the most state-of-the-art computer
technology. Indeed, everything and everyone on the island seems
bathed in a heavenly glow, with hard edges softened and colors
almost unbelievably rich, and the ornery nature of Peter’s
diminutive fairy friend Tinkerbell (played by French actress Ludivine
Sagnier) is countered beautifully by her healthful, warm appearance
as she is almost always seen in a glow of rich golden light. Moreover,
the short scene where Peter and the Darling children travel from
London to his fantastic home is a mind-blowing excursion through
the starry night sky and between the glowing, colorful planets
of the solar system.
The story of the film is pretty much standard, with Wendy and
her younger brothers John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie
Popplewell) being whisked off one night from their London home
to Never Land, Wendy being appointed surrogate mother and storyteller
not only by Peter and the lost boys but by Hook and his band of
bumbling pirates, and Tinkerbell’s heroism saving Peter and,
ultimately, Wendy and the others, from Hook’s dastardly plan.
Also included are mermaids, who appear quite sinister in this
version, and strangest of all, Native American Indians, whose
princess Tiger Lily (Carsen Gray) serves as the key to Peter’s
friendly relationship with the tribe. Appearing in supporting
roles are Olivia Williams as Mrs. Darling, Lynn Redgrave as the
children’s Aunt Millicent, and Richard Briers as Hook’s
not-all-that-scurvy first mate, Smee.
Do we really need another version of Peter Pan? Well… I suppose now that computer-generated effects rule the day, we will see more and more new versions of classic movies, so that we can marvel at the beautiful cartoons before us that pass themselves off as real life. There’s no question that fantasy stories like this benefit from the unbelievably wondrous potential of computer graphics. Maybe eventually we won’t even need actors. ****
