Thoughts on PP23 (aka "Peter Pan and Wendy")...
Beyond the level of faithfulness to the source material, the biggest crime a Peter Pan movie can ever commit is being dull... and this was SO DULL!!! And I don't just mean the cinematography... They were so concerned with being "different" and "a new take" that they stripped the story of any shred of its nuance and complexity! At least Hook was entertaining, and y'all know how I feel about Hook, lol...
No Tink being jealous of Wendy, trying to get her killed, getting banished by Peter, Hook exploiting her banishment to get her to reveal Peter's hideout, then drinking the poison meant for Peter, which makes Peter realize how much Tink means to him, and then resurrecting her with the help of children who believe in fairies? NONE OF THAT?? What are we even doing here then??? These are FUNDAMENTAL PLOT POINTS!!!
And the whole "Hook used to be a Lost Boy" thing? OH GODS PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!! And the thing is, I've always been a Hook apologist, but this movie revealing that Peter *legitimately* screwed him over just made me actively root for him! And the fact that Wendy knew all this and yet still was Team Peter?? I call bullshit...
And btw yes, it does kind of matter that the Lost Boys are all boys because Peter is a chauvinist douche which is uhhhh kind of a big contributing factor in Wendy wanting to leave him. (Side note, for those that don't know, it is canon that Peter KILLS OFF Lost Boys if they start getting older. Because contrary to popular belief, you CAN age in Neverland, you can just choose not to.)
The Hook/Wendy crumbs were nice but anticlimactic (like everything else in this movie). The girl playing Wendy was one of the few bright spots (she would make a good Sansa) but they gave her nothing to work with. She had NO chemistry with Peter (it was giving bickering siblings energy... yawn!) or with Hook... or with anyone honestly. I appreciate that the makers realized that "Peter Pan" is really WENDY'S story, but they stripped her of any sensuality. She is on the cusp of womanhood, and her dynamic with Peter and also with Hook is a major aspect of her character arc, but it's like they were too scared to acknowledge that (like Roger Ebert said in his review of PP03). They don't even have her try to kiss Peter!!! People are so fucking terrified of female sexuality, and that fact was painfully obvious in this movie.
They even had Wendy in bloomers instead of a nightdress because nightdresses are tOo gIrLy I guess...
I like that Peter was British for a change, but he was soooo forgettable! And that's a damn shame.
One thing I did like, though, was when Wendy first learns to fly, her happy thoughts are memories of her childhood, and then at the end of the movie, when she needs to summon happy thoughts again, they are visions of her future as a grown-up. I'm glad they didn't shy away from that, but we never actually saw any character progression from "I don't wanna grow up" to "hey maybe I do wanna grow up!" She hates Neverland pretty much from the moment she gets there and wants to leave, lol. We never see the progressive disillusionment with being someone who wants grown up things being trapped in childish dynamics.
I was confused as to why Jude Law wasn't also playing Mr. Darling, but after watching the movie, I can see why -- because they completely glossed over Wendy's relationship with him (or either or her parents, tbh). Apparently she was only gone for a couple hours?? And her parents never even knew she left?? uhhh okay...
Nana was just a pet, apparently, because, much like glowing fairies, hOw Can a dOg bE a NuRsEmAid???
And my gawd how anticlimactic was Peter's resurrection?? Putting aside the fact that it's HIM who dies instead of Tink, instead of having some grand, epic moment where the belief of children all over the world needs to be summoned to save him, Tiger Lily just shows up and... puts some leaves on him and he wakes up?? Huh? Just... every second of this movie felt like the writers asked themselves "what's the most BANAL way to present this?" and then just went with that.
It's just... really sad that this same studio understood the story better 70 years ago than they do now.
P.J. Hogan, your legacy is SAFE.
