Director David Lowery’s inner child remains intact and in sprightly condition with “Peter Pan & Wendy,” the filmmaker’s latest soulful live-action remake for Disney. Lowery blew some minds years ago when he made “Pete’s Dragon,” losing very few of the instincts that have made him a viable indie filmmaker with the considerably more challenging films like “A Ghost Story” and “The Green Knight.” His overall fascination with storytelling and the revealing nature of time finds a warm home in the J.M. Barrie story of Peter Pan, adapted by Lowery and co-writer Toby Halbrooks with commendable enthusiasm and inspiration.
There’s so much that’s refreshing about this take, especially given the bleakness usually associated with Disney’s live-action remakes (and with a garish-looking “The Little Mermaid” coming to theaters soon). But this version of the boy who doesn’t age combats any cynicism by being narratively focused and fleet with its pacing; Lowery fine-tunes the story to make it sing with its themes about the fear of getting old and the damage done in resisting it. And he captures much of it with his trademark low-angle shots that use a super-wide-angle lens, looking up at his classic characters like Wendy, Captain Hook, Tiger Lily, and Peter Pan, as if being in their presence was wondrous enough.
Ever Anderson (the daughter of Milla Jovovich and Paul W.S. Anderson) is excellent and exciting as Wendy Darling, a young girl who is about to be sent to boarding school and forced to grow up. That is until Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) and Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi) break into the room she shares with her younger brothers John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael (Jacobi Jupe). Peter has been looking for his shadow, and after he finds it in Wendy’s dresser, he convinces the three siblings to join him (with the help of Tinker Bell’s magic) in the time-defying magical world of Neverland. The scene in which the Darlings soar through the London night skyline is just one sequence in which Daniel Hart’s rousing and full-orchestra score is like the movie’s pixie dust, moving it along with a bit of magic.
Shortly after Wendy and her brothers arrive at Neverland, they realize they are more or less in the middle of a long-time battle between Peter Pan and grizzled pirate ship impresario Captain Hook (Jude Law). As this version goes, the feud is about more than just Hook losing his hand to Peter’s blade long ago. It has to do with a hurtful story that humanizes Hook and also shows complications in the moral compass of his ex-friend Peter Pan, whose own desperation to not age is shown in a harsher light.
This element haunts the story poignantly, especially as Wendy then wrestles with not wanting to grow up. And it shows how Lowery and Halbrooks haven’t just made the live-action version of the beloved story but have pushed and interrogated it without a preciousness for Peter Pan. Though his name is in the title, this isn’t a movie for those who expect only to love the latest version of Peter Pan.
“Peter Pan & Wendy” creates an intimate adventure out of the story, not losing that scope even as additional characters are welcomed, like the far more inclusive Lost Boys (not just boys, for one), Hook’s goofy sidekick Mr. Smee (Jim Gaffigan, a delight) and an excellent rewrite for the character Tiger Lily, played here by Alyssa Wapanatâhk. In this movie, Tiger Lily is a source of wisdom and a hero in their own right. All the while, the script leaps from one large set-piece to the next, including a cave in which Captain Hook and his men battle Peter Pan and later on Hook’s ship when hope seems lost for the Darlings. Lowery’s beloved use of the color green (there’s so much of it here) becomes a unifying force for its costume design and practical island locations topped with greenery as if this story were one with the earth below it.
Acknowledging that the rush of a Peter Pan movie can quickly fade, Lowery gives the story a breakneck pace. Some beats are skipped over quickly, and some characters have their presence minimized in the process, as with Peter Pan. Molony’s performance isn’t given much time to be more than sassy and stoic, and his backstory with Hook is rushed by a bit of ADR saddled on Gaffigan—we can hardly see Mr. Smee as he explains to other characters why Peter Pan and Hook are enemies, despite the importance.
It helps that the movie has such a strong villain in Law’s version of Captain Hook, playing the villain for equal amounts of cartoonishness and pure villainy. Law’s grimy showboating version looks right at home, balancing for dear life on the open mouth of a crocodile. Still, he also hits the right unsettling spot when he says before a tentative execution, “I’ve found you guilty of being a child.” With layers to his gravitas, Law’s work helps magnify what makes this movie so compelling and intricate, and we get it from a heart-breaking, serious monologue that hints at his own tragedy. “My time for joy is lost” is one of the film’s, and Hook’s, most devastating statements.
The tone is essential for a project like this, especially one that yearns to play to the emotions of your younger self but respects your intelligence (whatever age you are). “Peter Pan & Wendy” finds an excellent balance in this way; it’s playful but serious at the right moments and wistful, without being on the nose, about how growing up is the greatest adventure. Just like a bedtime story, “Peter Pan & Wendy” is poignant and fanciful, and it soars through its 103 minutes as if it can make time stand still. [A-]
“Peter Pan & Wendy” is available now on Disney+.