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Peter Pan
(Reviewed December 6, 2003)
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Don't let the slow-and-sappy start put you off. As soon as the kids and Peter Pan leave London, this live-action version of the classic story gets really interesting. That's because the tone shifts to something that is somehow stranger and more dreamlike than the Disney animated version, with pink cotton-candy clouds, Maxfield Parrish cliffs, an icebound pirate ship and a super-sized crocodile.
Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" movies) is excellent in the dual role of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook. How excellent is excellent? He was so different in the two roles that I didn't even realize he was playing Hook until the movie was over! Like Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean," he almost seems to prefer flamboyance over fiendishness, but with much more menace than Jack Sparrow behind his mincing.
Newcomers Rachel Hurd-Wood (as Wendy Darling) and Jeremy Sumpter (as Peter Pan) also are great. They look like young versions of Kylie Minogue and Brad Pitt, almost too perfect to be real, but thankfully act nothing whatsoever like plastic "Hollywood kids." And Ludivine Sagnier (of "8 Women" and "Swimming Pool") is terrific as Tinkerbell, a role with no dialog whatsoever.
A really enjoyable movie. Take the kids. Take crazy old Grampa. Take the dirty, filthy perv who lives in the bushes near the elementary school. They'll all love it!
Back Row Grade: B+
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