Movies - Peter Pan

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	Movies - Peter Pan

Peter Pan was a film released in December 25, 2003, by Universal Pictures. P. J. Hogan directed a screenplay he had co-written with Michael Goldenberg which was based on the classic children's play and novel by J. M. Barrie. Jason Isaacs played the role of Captain Hook, while Jeremy Sumpter played the title role, Rachel Hurd-Wood portrayed Wendy Darling, and Ludivine Sagnier played Tinkerbell. Noted actress Lynn Redgrave had a supporting role as Aunt Millicent, a new character specifically created for the film.

Jeremy Sumpter was the first boy to play Peter Pan in a live-action movie.

Tagline: Let the fight begin.

Storyline

"All children grow up... except one"

Those words from the novelization of Barrie's play (though in a different order) begin the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan.

Peter Pan returns several times to his birthplace, London, before returning to Neverland. Eventually he will bring several children, who become known as the Lost Boys, back to Neverland with him. These boys consider Peter a close friend and regard him as a foster father.

During one of his trips, Peter loses his shadow in Wendy's house, and when he comes back to get it he brings Tinker Bell, a fairy, with him. What Peter doesn't realize is that he has inadvertently started a love triangle between himself, Wendy, and Tinker Bell. Both girls hold childish crushes on Peter, but he remains completely oblivious to this.

This love story was adapted from the original play. J. M. Barrie might have wanted to do the same thing in the original novel (see #Peter and Wendy), but the tone is very different.

Peter and Wendy

Peter and Wendy was the original title of the third Peter Pan novel. The movie begins in the same manner as this short 200-page novel, by explaining that Peter was the only child who would never grow up.

The original play explains part of the background behind Mr. and Mrs. Darling, Wendy's parents, and how they first met. It also shows that the family has such financial problems that they begin worrying about keeping Wendy, because "she was another mouth to feed." Mr. Darling was more concerned than his wife. While he counted every penny and searched for a way out of their economic woes, Mrs. Darling just wanted to make a decision. All of these background details, however, are left out in the movie.

In both the original play and the novel, Peter Pan invites Wendy Darling to Neverland so she can act as a surrogate mother to his gang of Lost Boys. When Wendy asks Peter to bring her brothers John and Michael, who are asleep, he agrees and takes all three of them. It is implied in the play that Wendy is attempting to escape the financial tension of her household. The movie omits this, and brings out Wendy's developing crush on Peter, also found in Barrie's original play, more fully.

In Neverland, the characters have several different adventures, At one point the fairy Tinker Bell nearly dies, and Peter finally has a climactic confrontation with his nemesis, Captain Hook of The Jolly Roger. In the end, Wendy decides that she belongs back in her home, and brings all the boys, including the Lost Boys, back to her house in London.

Wendy grows older in London, but Peter remains ageless in Neverland. Though he promised to visit her again before they made their last farewells, he never returns to London.

Reaction

The movie was relatively popular with critics, but earned only $48.4 million at the box office in the United States and another $71 million outside of the U.S., compared with the film's $100-million budget. It faced competition from the highly-anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(released the week before), and from Cheaper by the Dozen, Cold Mountain
, and Paycheck (all released the same week). Audiences familiar with only the 1953 Disney film, and no other version, were shocked that the romantic angle of the play was so clearly brought out in this latest film version, and (wrongly) assumed that it was a rather sleazy attempt to "sex up" the original, something that was played up by the media. This probably contributed to the film's box office failure.

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Movies - Peter Pan

Storyline

Peter and Wendy

Reaction

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