Fairy tales are back. The charm of stories that begin with ‘once upon a time’ and have a tinge of magic not only enchant the children but extend a warm hug to adults too. Peter Pan and Wendy, the latest reiteration of the much-loved classic, smothers us with a state of saudade… a painful longing. Getting to relive our childhood moments at a time when we are sauntering through our adult lives is always a welcome break. Disney’s latest offering does exactly that as we forget our responsibilities, and reminisce the glorious days of a carefree childhood.
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Jude Law, Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, Yara Shahidi
A re-imagination of JM Barrie’s novel, the film places its central focus on Peter Pan, famously known as the boy who refuses to grow up. But delightfully, the feature also gives a chunky piece of attention to Wendy, an endearing character who gets a deserving arc. The film is set in the Edwardian era of London, sticking very much to the original where Wendy is set to embark on a new stage of her life of going to boarding school. What follows in the company of Neverland’s Peter Pan and Tinker Bell is a humanising reboot of the classic, which just needed a bit more magic.
In a cultural sense, Peter Pan became the embodiment of escapism from ageing and the innocence of the heart… much like a beetle trapped in amber. And the film revels in this aspect. At one point while referring to Peter Pan’s arch nemesis and antagonist Captain Hook, one of the characters says, “He grew up… He grew up wrong.” There is a cornucopia of such instances in Peter Pan and Wendy that poignantly points out the loss of innocence to adulthood, and Captain Hook becomes a face of this, drawing a humanising portrait of the antipathetic character he is.
Another running theme of Peter Pan and Wendy is motherhood. Hook’s cantankerous nature is thwarted by his reason to leave Neverland… he is in search of his mother. It is a cause that is poignant enough to make you feel divided on whose side to take. When Wendy is asked to be the mother of the children of Neverland, she says, “I don’t even know if I want to be a mother.” Either taken as a stance of mental maturity of the young teen girl, or a choice of life-changing decision that rests with women, the film tries to cleanly handle such grown-up topics in a simplistic way using its one-liners.
On the technical front, Peter Pan and Wendy scores decently by bringing in the right mix of live-action portions to its computer-generation effects. The 100-minute runtime works in favour of the film as the engagement factor works just right. But what shines brighter is how the makers handle various concepts of adult life, enveloped with the aspects of childhood that are looked through the prism of aging. Wenderson as Wendy, and Jude Law as Captain Hook take the major share of acting credits as they redefine the story for this era. If there is any character that takes the backseat, it is Peter Pan, who in most cases does not seem to enjoy the little happy changes or suggestions that people around him give. After a point, we end up with a sense of monotony in Peter Pan and Wendy’s life, and what was supposed to be a magical ride to and fro Neverland ends up becoming a regular coming-of-age drama.
#grounded #humanising #reboot #Cinema #express
