Starring: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried, Cara Delevingne
Directed By: Joe Wright
First off, I should be completely honest and say that I am unfairly prone to automatically liking Peter Pan themed films. I love Hook, it’s one of my favorite films to watch of all time. It’s a “cheer me up” film, and no matter how much a critic hates it, I can’t be convinced it’s bad. I even kinda liked the Peter Pan movie with Jeremy Sumpter, even if it was a little slow. Pan isn’t slow, and although it has some negative aspects, I still had a fun time watching the origin of Pan.
First off, Peter Pan was written in 1904. I don’t know how the origin of Pan could be during World War II. Second, I hated using current music as pirate songs in the film. That was unnecessary, out of place, and dumb. And third, I think Garrett Hedlund’s interpretation of Hook is terrible. I don’t know what accent he was trying to do, but it’s distracting. Someone needed to stop him way before this movie got into serious production.
What’s good? Levi Miller is a really good child actor. He carries this film, despite the presence of real Hollywood talent around him. I hope he gets work after this, because he deserves to hang around. I didn’t hate Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard. A bit campy, but it was nice to see him play a villain. Rooney Mara is mostly sleepwalking through her role, and Seyfried is really underused. Delevingne doesn’t even have dialog.
I thought the art direction was solid, but the overall visual effects were hit and miss. The world looked good, but the birds looked cartoonish. Some of it looks great, some of it looks poor. It’s like they ran out of money making this film.
But, I felt the story was solid, and the film moves at a good pace. It is a very flawed interpretation of Peter Pan, but it is still a more enjoyable than not experience. I feel like Joe Wright is capable of more, so its a bit disappointing. I understand why this didn’t find an audience in theatres, but hopefully it will find a few more eyes. It really isn’t a bad film, just not a great one. If I was feeling quippy, I’d say something like “Pan never quite takes flight.” and I’d be on the front page of Rotten Tomatoes, but I don’t feel the need to get a soundbite out of this. If you’re a Peter Pan fan, you probably won’t hate this.
FINAL GRADE: B-
