You learn nothing new about Peter or Hook as people, and the nods to the greater Pan lore are annoying at best with how unsubtle and clunky they are. The problem with the prophecy trope is that it robs characters of agency in place of just accepting their capital-D destiny. the events in the film do little to explain how Peter became Peter Pan, besides learn to fly.
![peter pan full movie real life peter pan full movie real life](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Zx-TrZDgvz0/0.jpg)
Far too often, the movie feels on Fantasy autopilot and what we're given is the old clichés of the Great Prophecy and the Chosen One meant to bridge worlds, etc. I suppose then that this would allow plenty of opportunity at world building to take these familiar staples and give them greater depth, and that's Pan's biggest missed opportunity. The fantasy figures themselves just aren't that interesting because there just isn't much to them beyond superficial descriptions.
![peter pan full movie real life peter pan full movie real life](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/movie-ideas2293/images/0/03/DfGJTm_UEAAz9eP.jpg)
They all kind of exist in their own individual movie that fails to blend together, making the new groups of characters feel like little more than a new theme park attraction before moving on to the next autonomous ride. When you get down to the world of Neverland, at least as represented on film, what exactly is there? There are pirates, "natives," mermaids, and fairies, and that's about it. It's a campy experience that makes me wonder who exactly was supposed to enjoy an attempt to open the Peter Pan mythos, a world that is generally shallow.Īt no point does Pan justify its existence beyond a flimsy corporate attempt to take a familiar world and expand upon it for sweet franchise money. Is this a movie intended for younger children and families? Is it intended for teenagers? The tone veers wildly, sometimes within the same scene, going from serious and gritty to colorful and ridiculous. Who exactly is Pan intended for or what story needed to be told prior to our introduction to the world of Neverland? The first act sets the stage for the miscalculated tonal mishmash that never truly settles: we jump from a cruel orphanage, with Peter comically plucky, to the horrors of the London bombing during the Blitz, to a bunch of pirates kidnapping the orphans (tacitly with the approval of the evil head nun running the orphanage), and from there we're whisked away across space to a mine of slave workers digging for pixie dust minerals who serenade their pirate slave lord with the lyrics to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for. The "Pan" has been prophecized to help lead their people and discover the bridge into the world of the fairies, and Blackbeard won't stop until he finds the source of his pernicious pixie smack. Peter and another miner, James Hook (Garrett Hedlund), escape, finding their way into the land of the "natives," which includes Tigerlily (a miscast Rooney Mara). There has been a prophecy that The One would be able to fly and they would topple Blackbeard. During a scuffle, Peter discovers he has the ability to fly, though he can't exactly master it. He's taken to Neverland to work in the mines belonging to Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman), who has an addiction to fairy dust. He and a few of his best parentless pals are abducted in the middle of the night by a group of pirates and their flying pirate ship. Peter (Levi Miller) is an orphan living in London during World War II. the studio, Warner Brothers, pulled a similar move with Jupiter Ascending, and we know how that turned out. It was originally planned for a summer 2015 release and was pushed back until the fall, ostensibly for more time to finish visual effects.
![peter pan full movie real life peter pan full movie real life](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/288473d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4500x3000+0+0/resize/1486x991!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fe0%2F35%2F00caf98f407085230ef54df3ed8e%2Fcome-away-07.08.18._0774_AB_RC.jpg)
Reminiscent of the Patton Oswalt bit concerning The Phantom Menace, often fans really need the "before" when it concerns the characters they love did anyone really need to know what Peter and Hook were up to before they became mortal enemies? Pan attempts to tell the story before we know it about how Peter Pan became the character we know.