You can fly! x10 - Peter Pan

14 – Peter Pan

Just like that, I'm two weeks in. Today is the 1953 classic Peter Pan. Before this, I'd say I was pretty familiar with Peter Pan and the concept of his story. I don't know if I saw the movie when I was a kid but it seems like something I would have enjoyed. Today, it's a bit more complicated than that.

Starting with what I liked, I think the concept of the story is fantastic. The idea that there are kids who never want to grow up and look to this hero is really great. The animation was spot on. The music was good, though not as good as I think some of the other Disney movies I've reviewed. The thing I think this movie really nailed, though, was it's “magical” feeling. I'll admit that Alice in Wonderland seemed to lack a bit of that classic Disney magic. I think this story really captures that idea that doing relatively ordinary things can really take you to wonderful places. In Cinderella and a bunch of other Disney movies, that involved having a dream and never giving it up. This movie had the simple idea of having happy thoughts and a bit of pixie dust letting you fly. I really like those simple ideas.

As for the characters, I think that was a bit hit or miss. Wendy was a really good character. I really feel like the story is about her, despite it being called Peter Pan. She gets, by far, the most development and personality in the story. I really liked that they used her to explore the messages the movie was trying to convey. She really goes through many changes in the movie, much like Alice did in the last movie. The only problem I had was that she didn't get the focus that Alice did. The story switches between the crazy amount of characters instead of focusing on her story.

One of these characters was Peter himself. Now, that's not to say that I didn't like Peter. I think he's a fantastic character and really entertaining but he doesn't get nearly the same care as Wendy did. I had a hard time understanding his reasoning for things. I got that he didn't want to grow up but they barely talked at all about why he thought that. I don't think they used his time on screen terribly though. All of his scenes show how brave and charismatic he is. If there's one thing that was clear, it was that I knew why so many of the characters look up to him and want to be around him.

As for a character that I think didn't use his screen time very well, I'd say that was Captain Hook. The movie spent way too much time with him. He seems very incompetent from the moment we meet him. This kind of makes it clear that Peter won't lose to him. It's fine to make him a bit of a funny character but if there's no feeling that he could win against Peter, then his final confrontation won't really have any weight. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. They really should have tried to make him a bit more menacing and dangerous. He just seemed like an idiot with a bad temper. I suppose this makes Peter look good compared to him but I think Peter would have looked even better making a fool of someone who is actually a threat.

The story itself was ok. Aside from the absurdly racist (by today's standards) Indian scenes, I think the story would stand up pretty well today. It did not have the focus of the last two movies. The pacing was alright but I can't really say that all the scenes helped make the world more interesting or make the characters more interesting. I really did like the message though. It really explored the idea of kids having to grow up or stay kids. Wendy is at the age where kids have to start thinking about being an adult and I think that's something most people can relate to. I also don't think the movie clearly states what they think is right which I think is also good. The answer isn't quite as simple as having a dream and sticking to it.

Despite all the complaints, I definitely didn't hate this movie. I think I'm just a bit disappointed that they couldn't really find a focus for it and stick to it. If it was me, I would have focused much more on Wendy, making sure Peter has a real personality and making sure that Captain Hook is actually dangerous. I really liked the message they were trying to explore but I really think it could have been explored more. This may be a kid's movie but I think messages like this have been explored much more deeply before. Just take a look at Pinocchio that went into those kinds of issues much more.

14 down. 39 to go.