Disney Preparing Live-Action Peter Pan with Pete’s Dragon Director

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Maybe re-read my comment. You completely misinterpreted it.
My apologies. When you said this:

I'm a bit surprised by the reviewer's honesty. That seems to be a no-no regarding unofficial Disney websites these days...

I thought you were referencing the oft posited theory that Disney forces vloggers to only say good things.
 

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
There's plenty of Disney content that has been panned: Cars 2; Lightyear; Eternals; Rise of Skywalker; etc... Almost all direct-to-Disney+ movies have horrible ratings.

And yet the pernicious lie that Disney controls all such reviews continues as a baseless conspiracy theory.

Are some third-tier vloggers afraid of losing access to the Food & Wine preview? Sure. But not enough to move the needle.
May I excuse Togo from that list? I really liked it the first time I saw it, rewatched it again recently, and that last scene was just as devastating as the first time I saw it.
 

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
I watched this film over the weekend. Big "meh" for me.

Peter Pan is a tough story to pull off, the title character in particular. I agree with some of the others that even the 50s animated version missed some crucial aspects of the story, mainly Wendy deciding that it's time to leave childhood (and hence Peter Pan and Neverland) behind her. The difficult part is to show Wendy's choice as the correct decision while still leaving Peter as a generally fun and whimsical character. Peter can't be the villain.

Although I thought this film did Wendy better than previous attempts, except for some of the opening scenes, it largely lacked the fun and whimsy part. Neverland had far too much of a grim-dark appearance. Not the kind of place that could convince kids to never grow up.

In the initial scene where he shows up in the children's room, I thought the actor hit Peter Pan's essence. He has the kind of positive energy that attracts the other children, but is somewhat of a bratty kid who lacks emotional maturity. But then the rest of the script requires him to be morose, which just really doesn't work for the character or what the remainder of the plot requires.

For Tinkerbell, removing the jealousy subplot basically just turned her into a deus ex machina character.

I was disappointed in Jude Law as Captain Hook too. He seemed almost bored in the role.

One final nit-picking complaint. Turning the pilot's wheel of a ship turns the rudder, which adjusts the ships's heading, not the roll!
 
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LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
I watched this film over the weekend. Big "meh" for me.

Peter Pan is a tough story to pull off, the title character in particular. I agree with some of the others that even the 50s animated version missed some crucial aspects of the story, mainly Wendy deciding that it's time to leave childhood (and hence Peter Pan and Neverland) behind her. The difficult part is to show Wendy's choice as the correct decision while still leaving Peter as a generally fun and whimsical character. Peter can't be the villain.

Although I thought this film did Wendy better than previous attempts, except for some of the opening scenes, it largely lacked the fun and whimsy part. Neverland had far too much of a grim-dark appearance. Not the kind of place that could convince kids to never grow up.

In the initial scene where he shows up in the children's room, I thought the actor hit Peter Pan's essence. He has the kind of positive energy that attracts the other children, but is somewhat of a bratty kid who lacks emotional maturity. But then the rest of the script requires him to be morose, which just really doesn't work for the character or what the remainder of the plot requires.

For Tinkerbell, removing the jealousy subplot basically just turned her into a deus ex machina character.

I was disappointed in Jude Law as Captain Hook too. He seemed almost bored in the role.

One final nit-picking complaint. Turning the pilot's wheel of a ship turns the rudder, which adjusts the ships's heading, not the roll!
I agree with pretty much all of this except your characterisation of Law’s performance, which I thought was the strongest of the film.
 

Heppenheimer

Well-Known Member
I feel we were robbed by not having Alan Tudyk play Mr. Darling and Captain Hook.
I'm guessing the addition of the plot point of Captain Hook being an old friend of Peter's who grew up probably would have complicated the symbolism.

Plus, in this version, Mrs. Darling serves as more of the authority figure for Wendy to rebel against than Mr. Darling.
 

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
My apologies. When you said this:

I'm a bit surprised by the reviewer's honesty. That seems to be a no-no regarding unofficial Disney websites these days...

I thought you were referencing the oft posited theory that Disney forces vloggers to only say good things.

Apology accepted.

Anyway, I think this crappy remake will definitely get looked at on Disney+. People are curious, a la traffic accident. And what else are the customers gonna watch - Moana again?
 

dreday3

Well-Known Member
Movie was okay.

Thought Jude Law was great as Hook.

Didn't like Peter, but I never liked him. He's a brat. 😂

Tink was adorable and actress fit the part perfectly.

Barely noticed girls were part of the Lost Boys, because as they said, who cares.

Doubt will watch again
 

doctornick

Well-Known Member
I just finished it. I’m afraid I found it earnest to the point of tedium. I particularly disliked the idea that Peter and Hook had been childhood friends, and I missed the cheekiness of the animated Tinkerbell. It just wasn’t fun or whimsical enough for me. On the plus side, I thought the acting was strong all around (Jude Law’s Hook was my favourite), and they dealt well with Tiger Lily’s character.
This basically reflects my view. Some good stuff but the lack of whimsy made it kind of difficult to watch.

Off hand, I feel like this should have been a Hulu release (or Star in other countries) to set the proper expectations. Releasing it on D+ as a “Disney” film (castle and all to start) puts on some burden to be “true” to the animated film and/or more accessible to children than this was IMHO.
 

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