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This rendition of “Peter Pan” is a strange one for me to describe. It was unlike anything I had ever imagined or seen prior. I entered the room expecting a lighthearted children’s fantasy and was shocked to find a film that is serious and contains a hint of sadness. Is it fun to be Peter Pan forever? Well, certainly not when you are stuck in Groundhog Day and forced to endlessly repeat the same adventures, constantly dealing with the irritating Capt. Hook and Tinker Bell.
”Peter,” Wendy asks, “what are your true feelings?” This is exactly what Peter cannot express. It acknowledges the hidden sexuality within Peter and Wendy’s characters, which is part of why Peter is somewhat frightened. This recent extravagant production, which was recorded in Australia and features a young unknown as the stunning Wendy, is more than aware of how these two characters are interconnected. They ar at exactly the right age when they should be sharing the first real kiss. And they, in fact, do share that kiss, much to the disbelief of the other characters (They have never witnessed it before — neither in a cartoon, nor in a theater — Never!).”
The movie is directed by P.J. Hogan who is known for the Julia Roberts comedy “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” Here he adheres more closely to the J.M. Barrie book that is nearing 100 years old and also to the book’s underlying themes that are ignored by most adaptations of “Peter Pan.” When a bare-chested, well-built lad appears on the window of the most beautiful 12 and a half-year old girl in all of London and wants her to leave her home and family to become a Lost Boy in Neverland, he is the sort of unusual figure her mother should have warned her about. With the other central character in Neverland being the one-armed Captain Hook, who has the rather unpleasantly close interest in both Peter and Wendy, it is enough to make Freud turn in his grave.
That movie wasn’t really sexual; however, it had its moments of sensuality, and other iterations chose not to acknowledge those parts. The new live action film contributes to the new emphasis: Jeremy Sumpter, who is so good at being a little boy in Bill Paxton’s “Frailty”, plays Peter Pan, while Wendy Darling is played by Rachel Hurd-Wood, who won the role at an open casting session and is charming in her debut. They are good looking young people in parts which used to be played by people like Robin Williams and Mary Martin. There is some magic on the screen.
Of course, the special effects are multiple, but there is some purpose in their excess. It is not simply a delight of beautiful images, but starts with a Neverland that appears to be lush and fetid; it is more like Louisiana than Middle Earth. There is an enormous, pathetic castle and all kinds of ways into the dreary void, but scenes will also turn as frail as “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. When feebler films would show us repetitive sword fighting, Peter and Wendy remain suspended in midair as they imitate the fairy ballet.
The film ends up blending and converging to two essential themes: Wendy’s wish to liberate Peter Pan from perpetual childhood, and Hook’s jealousy of their affection towards each other. The fact that the poison made from droplets which come from Hooks’ eye is red suggests envy, malice, and disappointment, which are rather deeply felt emotions.
Jason Isaacs plays both roles of Capt. Hook and John Darling in a dual performance which has been made famous through decades of holiday pantomimes. Each character seems to lack some of the attributes of the other. Hook, in all his diabolical glory, is an over the top rage monster while John Darling is painfully timid and so socially withdrawn that he struggles to have conversations with himself in front of mirrors. Mrs. Darling (Olivia Williams), the mother of Wendy and her two younger siblings, appears to be unfazed waiting beside her window hoping for her children to come home, but perhaps she has already witnessed the previous renditions.
Wendy’s character develops in Neverland. It fascinates me how the Lost Boys try so hard to be found, yet they all huddle around Wendy and plead for her to be their mother. (What does a mother do? “Tell us a story!”) Eventually, when the Lost Boys come back home to the bedroom with Wendy and her siblings John and Michael, they request that Mrs. Darling be their mother, which she agrees to, but when Smee (Richard Briers) is late and motherless, Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) gleefully becomes the new character that takes over.
Aunt Millicent is the one who stirred panic in the family when she noted Wendy was no longer a girl and tried to place her under her supervision to turn her into a proper woman. This notion is somewhat concerning for Wendy, and what she receives from Peter is the opportunity to remain forever suspended in her pre-teen fantasies. What he is offered in return is a chance to embrace maturity. “To grow up is such a barbarous business,” Hook observes. “Think of the inconvenience — and the pimples!”
But never growing up is sinisterly depressing, and in this version of “Peter Pan,” Peter’s final flight comes across more like a defeat in comparison to a triumph.
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