The story of Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie, is a classic like no other. It captures the effortlessly eternal joy of childhood, even if children themselves are not eternal. Peter Pan captures a youthful wonder at the world as though all is new with the dawning of each day. It captures the very essence of fun.
All of this and then some is present in the new movie version of the classic tale for the young and the young at heart. A number of things are different about this production of Peter Pan. For example, the titular character is played by a teenage male, Jeremy Sumpter, instead of a young woman as is traditional for the role. Judging by the effect Sumpter had on the teenage girls in the audience, it’s safe to say his performance was excellent.
Different as well was the element of the “hidden kiss.” It is explained that some women have, hidden in the corner of their mouths, a kiss with the power to make a man do extraordinary things. Mrs. Darling, Wendy, and the Princess Tiger Lily all demonstrate their hidden kisses at various points in the movie.
Differences aside, the formidable presence in the movie was the traditional dual role of Captain Hook and Mr. Darling by Jason Isaacs. Isaacs, who has proved his worth in roles such as Captain Mike Steele in Black Hawk Down and Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, did not disappoint in Peter Pan. Isaacs’ performance was of show-stealing proportions.
The special effects in the movie were fairly good; in other words, you couldn’t see the wires holding up those characters who flew. Also, the flight to Neverland had a computer-generated hyperspeed portion that was added to the journey. As Pan says, “Whatever you do, don’t let go.”
On a more literary note, Peter Pan demonstrated that it is a story about allegories, not characters. Peter Pan can never be old and Captain Hook can never be young, no matter what Wendy, or anyone else, does to try to change this. Pan and Hook are therefore not so much people who live on the island of Neverland as they are ideas, concepts of “young” and “old” respectively that exist in the imagination of children all around the world.
Overall, this new version of the classic story has a lot going for it. There is a lot of chemistry between the actors, and comic relief—in the form of Smee—for those parents seeing the movie with their children. The movie is very creative in various respects, including the way it avoids asking the audience to clap if they believe in faeries as versions performed in theatres do. This movie is for the young and the young at heart, and if you are neither, you will be by the end of the movie.
