Often, as children, we want to remain kids and not grow up fearing missing a life full of toys, fun, pampering, and a lack of responsibilities. “Peter Pan & Wendy” is an adaptation of Disney’s famous animation film “Peter Pan” and is based on the favourite characters of Scottish author J.M. Barrie. It’s a wonderful action-adventure fantasy that children of all ages will enjoy this summer on the Disney+ OTT platform.
Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson) an adolescent girl is uncomfortable leaving her childhood life for boarding school. Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) and the fairy Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi) come into her life on the eve of her moving to boarding school. With the magic dust of Tinker Bell, Wendy and her younger brothers John Darling (Joshua Pickering) and Michael Darling (Jacobi Jupe) learn to fly and begin their journey to the imaginary world of Neverland with Peter Pan.
Peter Pan, the free-spirited boy lives in Neverland along with a loyal group of young children “The Lost Boys” and fights the pirates led by Captain James Hook (Jude Law), an evil pirate leader. Ironically, Peter and James were childhood friends in Neverland and James left Peter and returned as evil only to become an enemy of Peter.
The film is a vibrant one with the presence of a lot of children, their feelings, fears, and moments of joy, togetherness, friendships, and teamwork to fight evil. Fantastic visuals of the sea, landscapes, and mountains give a great feeling of adventure. A perfect mix of realistic and imaginary worlds for children.
Jude Law as Captain Hook with his attire, long uncared hair, gruesome eyes, and ferocious authority over his fellow pirates, where no one is allowed to utter the name of Peter Pan, does full justice to his role.
Tinker Bell, the little fairy’s presence throughout the film brings smiles often when her fairy dust makes everyone fly including the pirate ship, where she dumps all pirates into the sea by turning the ship upside down once and takes control of the ship.
Cannons and arrows show their powers in multiple fight scenes during the film and something that the lost boys and the pirates both celebrate with much gusto creating cheerful moments for the child audience.
David Lowery directed, fairy tale film where Peter Pan and Captain Hook reunite as friends, and the lost boys come back to London with the Darling family. It’s a great watch for the whole family.
The author is the Festival Director of KidzCINEMA and CultureCinema, who also writes on entertainment, spirituality, and culture.