TV Times

TV Times

Peter Pan: Never Ending Fantasy
By Harinda Vidanage
Peter Pan the magical children’s tale celebrates its centenary this year and the best way to celebrate this fantasy is to view a live action movie adapted from the original. The director of My Best Friends Wedding J.M. Hogan has brought to life a magical wonder with extreme mastery integrating all the wizardry of modern movie making to present film fans with an exuberant children’s movie of all time.

Sir James Barrie a Scot by Birth came to London as a free lance writer, most of his contributions were for the theatre. The 1904 work Peter Pan made him a classic play write. The play was adapted by Disney as animation movie in 1953 and still remains one of the best movies ever done by Disney.

The man to bring this live-action version to screen director P.J. Hogan who’s “Muriel’s Wedding,” “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and the little-seen “Unconditional Love” are hysterically funny comedies with a sharp sense of humor. He brings that humor to the screenplay version of J.M. Barrie’s play, and he brings the first boy ever to play “Peter Pan” to the big screen too. He’s Jeremy Sumpter who made a dramatic impression in Bill Paxton’s directorial debut “Frailty,” an indie thriller horror film. Sumpter, 14, is the first boy to play Peter Pan, which has been portrayed by women since the stage play was first performed in 1904 (with Robin Williams playing an adult version in “Hook” a flop of a movie project undertaken by Spielberg).

Rachel Hurd Wood, 13 another amateur is playing Wendy, who joins Peter on the trip to Neverland with her two younger brothers. And, Sagnier is the jealous miniature fairy Tinker Bell, who was last played on screen by Julia Roberts.

The Simple story line goes in a time and space context of Edwardian London. Wendy Darling (Rachel) mesmerizes her brothers nightly with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars to the lush jungles of Neverland. Wendy and her brothers join Peter and the Lost Boys in an exhilarating life free of grown-up rules, while also facing the inevitable showdown with Hook and his bloodthirsty pirates.

Their journey is indeed fantastic as they fly through space and land on a cloud, where they must duck cannon volleys from Hook and his fellow pirates. Prodded by Tink (a wordless Ludivine Sangier of “Swimming Pool,” playing up the fairy’s childish qualities), the Lost Boys add to the peril by shooting at “the Wendy bird.”

The magical special effects and vibrant artistry of the sets by Don McAlpine, Scott Farrar and Roger Ford make it look like it’s an animated version of turn-of-the-century London, but it’s all live, and it’s the most delightful family film of the season. With adventure, pathos and visual wizardry, it’s the only movie out where boys and girls of all ages can enjoy equally.

With the action and adventure present and correct, there’s even time for some romance as Rachel Hurd-Wood’s plumy-voiced Wendy teaches Peter how to kiss, then picks up a sword and charges into battle on the decks of the pirate ship.

Every moment in this film feels like we are stuck somewhere in a place between a dream and reality – Between our adulthood and childhood. Peter Pan offers the best of both worlds, to both worlds.

“‘Peter Pan’ is a great romantic adventure and love story between two kids on the edge of growing up,’ says Jason Isaacs, who plays the dual roles of Capt. Hook and Mr. Darling.

The concept of Neverland inspired the Mega Star of Pop Michael Jackson to built a theme park in his ranch and naming it the Neverland. Though the image of Michael Jackson was shot down by his own unmaking the concept of NeverLand is a pilgrimage for all kids at least in their dreams.

In Peter Pan the Magical Cinematography with the right cast and intelligent movie making has synergistically contributed to a movie experience where the viewer would fall under a spell of the fairy and begins to feel that Fairees are real and they are here to stay.

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