My Movie Review on Peter Pan: Return to Neverland · 11:53pm Apr 20th, 2020
Greetings, my friends.
This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for my 142nd film analysis, I'm gonna be giving you guys my take of "Peter Pan: Return to Neverland".
Here's the summary of this tale:
Years after the last time she saw Peter Pan, Wendy Darling has grown into a full-fledged adult with a passion for telling stories. She is also the mother of two children, Jane and Daniel.
However, during World War II, Jane has come to believe that Peter Pan is nothing but a fairytale and that it's time to put aside being a child. When her mother regrettably tells Jane that she and her brother will have to leave for the country in the morning, Jane is angered by the news and refuses to ever believe in Peter Pan again.
On that same night, though, Jane is kidnapped by Captain Hook and taken away to Neverland, where she comes face to face with Peter Pan himself despite being filled with doubt.
Will she ever get back home to London? Or will she be stuck on Neverland forever?
What's more, will she ever believe?
In all honesty, this film was something I often watched as a child. Of course, as I got older, there were things about it that I couldn't help but dislike, and it kind of got fueled by me becoming aware of the mixed to negative reputation it received.
When I watched this movie again recently via Disney+, though...it was like reliving my childhood, and I found myself smiling all the way.
But, there were a couple of negatives I was able to pinpoint. One would be that many of the jokes were rather flat and lacked a certain spark, and the other...came in the form of replacing the Tick-Tock Crocodile with an octopus. I mean, I get that the team obviously wanted to try something different, but the crocodile is an irreplaceable-kind of character that's known and loved by so many, and so his replacing was kind of a heartbreaking one and felt rather lazy. The fact that there was no explanation for his absence within the film also made things questionable.
In spite of these negatives, the film actually wasn't as bad as one would think.
For instance, the direction by Robin Budd, and the story by Temple Mathews, were surprisingly well-done.
I mean, yes, it did share similar plot points with that of the first movie, but it's not a complete rehash either. The film carried an unexpectedly large amount of heart and emotion that was strong enough to tug at the soul, and it looked like a lot of thought was put into it to help it feel less like a cash grab. There were even life-changing morals for people to live by. And, despite not all of the jokes being funny, there were still some that were quite chuckle-worthy and gave the movie a sense of wit.
The animation was impressive as well.
It was nice to see the defunct Disneytoon Studios try to push the envelope and help the movie feel as big as possible, especially on a budget of 20 million dollars. The style of it appeared to match beautifully with the original film while also representing something made from the modern times, and the computer-animated elements mixed marvelously with the hand-drawn animated world and characters. A prime example came from Captain Hook's ship as it flew across the sky over London, even amidst the activity of World War II.
The music by Joel McNeely was melodiously pleasant, if I may add.
The melodies he made were so memorable and cinematic, and he did a great job at aiding the film in being something enormous. And I'm not gonna lie, BBMak's "Do You Believe in Magic?" is one of the most fun songs I've ever listened to.
Finally, the performances of the cast, characters, and character development in articulation was splendid. Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett literally nailed it with portraying the characters of Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, and Blayne Weaver was fantastic in the role of Peter Pan.
Out of all the characters, though, Jane was the one whom I found to be the heart and soul of the film. She not only had a significant amount of growth and development throughout the movie, but she helped the story have a sense of something unique. Harriet Owen did a magnificent job portraying the character too, incorporating brilliant personality and a sense of something very human.
In the end, "Peter Pan: Return to Neverland" isn't perfect, and it may not be as great as its classic predecessor. But, there's still an undeniable sense of charm, heart, and passion contained in the film, and it unexpectedly manages to be something worth seeing. At least, in my opinion.
So, I rate "Peter Pan: Return to Neverland" 4½ out of 5 stars.
When I was still stuck in my Peter Pan obsession, this was the movie that I coveted the most. I had an absolute blast when I first watched it.
Looking back on it now, it occurs to me that quite a bit of it's plot points are straight-up reversals of the events of the original film. Hook is the one who comes to our world instead of Peter. Pan is the one in danger during the climax and it's Jane, the newcomer, who ends up saving the day. And perhaps most importantly, while the original movie involved Wendy coming to terms with growing up, this one involves Jane learning to not give up on the good factors of childhood.
Aside from that, I thought the World War II backdrop added a greater sense of weight to Jane's motivations, and it kinda makes her story strike a bit closer to home. How can one believe in boys who can fly when the world is bombing itself to death? (or choking to death on coronavirus?) Also, I actually liked Peter's character a whole lot better in this movie than I did in the first one. Even with his mischievous nature, he still comes across as more considerate and–dare I say it–mature–than he did in the original. It made him more likable to me.
Also, what was with that weird wormhole that they went through to get to Neverland? Does that mean that it's on a different dimensional plane than Earth?
To be honest, I haven't seen this movie for about fourteen or thirteen years.
I think its not a bad film.
Captain Hook had more of a relationship with the Crocodile than he did with Peter. The absence of the only character who ever got the best of Hook and left him a little something (or rather lack of something) to remember was a very noticeable void.
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Does this mean you agree with me?
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If you're saying that replacing the Cocodile was detrimental to the story: then yes.
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That I am.
I want to say I saw this, but if I did my memories are so foggy I would need to watch it again
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Ironically enough, I often theorized Neverland as being part of a different dimension, and that the second star to the right was the gateway between it and our dimension.
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...SO DID I!!!
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Suddenly, I’ve grown curious about something:
How did you feel about the absence of the Tick-Tock Crocodile? As well as the replacing of him with the giant octopus?