‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ movie review: Adventure and ticking crocodiles propel this live-action remake of J. M. Barrie classic

Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell in ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’
| Photo Credit: Disney+ Hotstar

After the live action version of Disney’s 1940 classic, Pinocchio, it is the turn of another lost boy in Peter Pan & Wendy. Based on Disney’s 1953 animated feature, the film expands on the story being closer in spirit to J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play, Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up.

One night in Edwardian England, the Darling boys John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael (Jacobi Jupe) are having a pretend sword fight, shouting all sorts of piratical terms, while their parents, Mary (Molly Parker) and George (Alan Tudyk) are getting ready to go out for dinner. Wendy, (Ever Anderson) the eldest Darling child, is reluctant to go to boarding school. 

Though pere Darling is the very soul of respectability and rules, he is not above colouring outside the lines as is obvious from the children’s nanny, Nana, who is a Newfoundland dog! Wendy and her brothers escape with Peter Pan (Alexander Molony), and the little fairy, Tinkerbell (Yara Shahidi) to Neverland for many adventures.

Neverland is a place of wonder and adventure. There are the Lost Boys who fell out of their prams when they were babies. Having girls in the group for inclusivity is self-defeating, as in the original, girls were too smart to be lost. Tiger Lily, (Alyssa Wapanatahk) is a warrior princess from an indigenous tribe (not the Native Americans of the original) of the island. And then of course there are the pirates led by Captain Hook (Jude Law) who is forever hunting Peter after he (Peter) cut off his hand and fed it to a crocodile. Hook’s first mate, Smee (Jim Gaffigan) is loyal if not very helpful.

There are pirate songs about behemoths and cephalopods and all sorts of fun visual effects. The ticking crocodile (it swallowed a clock) is suitably gigantic (wish there were some jolly cephalopods though) and that ship sailing through the air was lovely too.

The underlying psychology, while not going full-on Oedipal, does touch upon the desire for things to remain the same and looking at growing up as a form of betrayal. The relationship between Peter and Hook is looked at from the prism of friendship rather than fathers and sons. Law adds a layer of poignancy to his pirate chief in this movie which is as simple and profound as the themes it tackles.

Peter Pan & Wendy is currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar