Cast: Jeremy Sumpter, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Jason Isaacs, Lynn Redgrave, Richard Briers, Olivia Williams, Geoffrey Palmer, Harry Newell, Freddie Popplewell, Ludivine Sagnier
Director: P.J. Hogan
Producers: Lucy Fisher, Patrick McCormick, Douglas Wick
Screenplay: P.J. Hogan and Michael Goldenberg, based on the play by J.M. Barrie
Cinematography: Donald McAlpine
Music: James Newton Howard
U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures
Forget everything you think you know about boys who never grow old, pirates with a hook for a hand, and a place called Neverland. For many people of a certain age, the only Peter Pan they recognize is the 1953 animated Disney movie. Although not a bad adaptation for kids, the film managed to dump much of the richer, more thought-provoking elements of J.M. Barrie's original. With his 2003 big-budget, live-action version, director P.J. Hogan (Muriel's Wedding, My Best Friend's Wedding) has gone back to the source material and come up with one of the best versions of Peter Pan to reach the screen. Unlike last year's disastrous Pinocchio with Roberto Benigni, this movie proves worth the time, effort, and money to get the whole family to a theater.
Peter Pan has the kind of multi-layered approach that allows it to be appreciated by viewers of all ages. Children will be enthralled by the adventure and derring-do. Adults, on the other hand, will note the bittersweet method with which it addresses the gains and losses of adulthood, and the sacrifices that must be made to leave behind the carefree days of youth. The movie also tells a surprisingly tender love story. It's an innocent first crush, replete with all the wonder and possibility that such a relationship allows. The intensity of feeling between Wendy and Peter, and the jealousy of Tinkerbell, are things that the Disney version excised.
The story, for those who don't know it, involves the journey of Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and her two younger brothers, John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell), to the land of Neverland. They are guided there by the eternally young flying boy, Peter Pan, (Jeremy Sumpter) and his petulant fairy, Tinkerbell (Ludivine Sagnier). Once in Neverland, they become enmeshed in Peter's war with his arch-enemy, the nefarious Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs). Meanwhile, in London, Wendy's parents (Olivia Williams and Jason Isaacs) and aunt (Lynn Redgrave), worry and wonder whether their children will ever return home.
Peter Pan is a marvelous movie to behold. The set design is colorful and imaginative, and could easily have come from the riotous imagination of Baz Luhrman. Nothing in this film is real - it's all highly stylized. Even London is a fantasy-city: the kind of place that only exists in idealized stories. The clouds are pink, the seas around Hook's ship surge and roil, and the fairies dance deep in the forest. Neverland is supposed to be a place of endless wonders, and that's the impression Hogan conveys.
The cast is comprised of character actors and unknowns, and the lack of star power works to the film's advantage, since there's no one to steal the spotlight. One of the many failures of Steven Spielberg's Hook was the presence of too much wattage: Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and Julia Roberts. The two children of real note are Jeremy Sumpter (Frailty), and, making her screen debut, the luminous Rachel Hurd-Wood. Both are perfect for their roles. Sumpter plays Peter as a pre-pubescent boy who would rather ignore emotions than confront them, disturbing though they may be. Hurd-Wood's Wendy is a believer in love and romance, and sees Peter as a dashing hero. The light romantic chemistry between the two is on-target: playful without a hint of salaciousness. There's affection, but no sex.
The standout is Jason Isaacs, whose Captain Hook makes Lucius Malfoy (the role he played in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) look like a choir boy. Yet, despite all the sinister sneers, there's something human about Hook. Isaacs gives us occasional glimpses of the man beneath all the poisonous bile. For good measure, the actor takes on a second, milder role: that of Wendy's milquetoast father. Other players include French actress Ludivine Sagnier as the diminutive Tinkerbell (she has no dialogue, so her heavy accent is not a problem), Olivia Williams as Mrs. Darling, Lynn Redgrave as Aunt Millicent, and Kenneth Branagh favorite Richard Briers as Hook's henchman, Smee.
Family entertainment late in 2003 has been pretty wretched, with depressing options like The Cat in the Hat and The Haunted Mansion getting most of the box office attention. Finally, with Peter Pan, there's a legitimate selection out there, with enough entertainment value to allow Mom, Dad, and the kids to have a good time. Plus, pirate movies are big these days (Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the year's top money-makers), and this is one of the better ones. P.J. Hogan's Peter Pan proves that some concepts, like their characters, are ageless.
© 2003 James Berardinelli