How many times can one story be told?  Given the number of iterations there are of J. M. Barrie’s classic story of the boy who never grew up, you would think it was the greatest tale ever, on par with Shakespeare.  It is not, though I do not mean to dismiss it.  Still, it is easy enough to understand, simple really.  All this is like adding gasoline to a fire for a company like Disney.  Walt Disney once said of Disneyland, the granddaddy of all theme parks, that it will never be finished.  For better or worse, this seems to be the mantra that the corporation has adopted since its founder passed in 1966.  Die-hard fans may complain when things like fast passes for rides go away, but this is how they do business.  Even things they are seemingly doing right they will continue to tinker with and modify.  With the success they have enjoyed, it is hard to argue against them.  This also extends to their visual entertainment.  Movies made decades ago in an era of different sensibilities get new treatments to match with the times.  What you are about to read in this review of Peter Pan & Wendy will be me railing against much of this nonsense, but once more, this is nothing new for Disney.

If you are familiar with Peter Pan (1953), then you will recognize the opening scenes of Peter Pan & Wendy, in form at least.  Because this is the Biden administration and not that of Eisenhower, there is a decided focus on the last half of the title, Wendy Darling (Ever Anderson).  She is partial to joining in her little brothers, John (Joshua Pickering) and Michael Darling (Jacobi Jupe), game of crossing swords like their favorite characters Peter Pan (Alexander Molony) and Captain Hook (Jude Law).  Yet, their father (Alan Tudyk) and mother (Molly Parker) believe it is time for Wendy to start to grow up.  She would rather remain as she is right now.  Mrs. Darling is softer in her approach, reminding her daughter that it will eventually happen.  With this thought on Wendy’s mind, her sleep is soon interrupted by the arrival of Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi).  She functions as a prelude to Peter entering through the window.  He had been watching Wendy and heard her desire to not get old.  After recovering from their shock of finding out that their heroes of literature are real, they accept Tinker Bell’s pixie dust, think happy thoughts, and fly away to Neverland.  Their entrance into this alternate universe (I am not sure what else to call it) is noticed by Captain Hook’s pirates.  They immediately begin firing canon at Peter and the Darlings (band name!), and one of the shots lands close enough to knock them to the ground.  Wendy comes to, climbs up into the interior of the island, and is greeted by the Lost Boys.  These are other children who Peter had also brought to Neverland upon hearing their appeals to get away from the perceived harshness of their parents.  Oh, and Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatâhk) is there, too, because Disney needs to erase the embarrassment of how they portrayed native peoples in the original animated film.  Peter is nowhere to be found, but the Lost Boys do notice that Captain Hook’s men have taken John and Michael.  Further, it appears that Captain Hook is planning to execute the Darling boys at their usual spot, Skull Rock.  Tiger Lily takes Wendy and the Lost Boys (another band name!) to this location in time to see Peter reveal himself as a disguised pirate.  It is now time for Peter and Captain Hook to renew their age-old feud by crossing swords, though Captain Hook manages to get the upper hand.  Peter is saved first by Wendy, and then by the intervention of the crocodile, the animal the old buccaneer most fears.  The aggrieved parties manage to go their separate ways.  Peter takes the Darlings to what I will laughingly call the Lost Boy’s “hide out,” though Captain Hook knows of its location.  There, Wendy begins to realize that Neverland adventures are actually dangerous and not all fun and games.  The Lost Boys want her to be their mother, which further reinforces this notion, though Peter flies up to his room in disgust.  After the younger ones are asleep, Wendy goes up to talk to him.  Remember what I said about Captain Hook knowing how to find the Lost Boys?  That is because he used to be one, and was Peter’s best friend to boot.  They had a falling out because Captain Hook began to miss his mother, leading Peter to banish his friend.  Captain Hook came back older and meaner, thus their rivalry.  As Wendy learns of this, Captain Hook shows up and takes all the Lost Boys and Wendy prisoner.  It also looks as if he has killed Peter, but Peter’s shadow manages to alert Tiger Lily.  Back on Captain Hook’s ship, Wendy has offered herself to walk the plank instead of the others.  What saves her is Tinker Bell breaking free of her confinement and sprinkling her magic powder on Wendy as she plummets towards the water.  Actually, there is a confusing sequence that seems to suggest either time travel or the ability to see into the future on Wendy’s part, thus giving her flight, but the less said about this the better.  I am just going to say it is Tinker Bell.  Adding to the puzzlement is the pirate ship suddenly flying, which is more concretely tied to Tinker Bell.  At any rate, this is where the final battle takes place, and the climactic moment comes when Peter has beaten Captain Hook and offers his former friend his apologies.  Captain Hook basically refuses and falls into the water below.  From here, Peter agrees to return the Lost Boys to the real world.  This is all well and good, though he dumps them in the Darling children’s bedroom, much to the surprise of Mr. and Mrs. Darling.  Wendy tries to convince Peter to stay, particularly since it appears that their house is his original home.  Instead, he returns to Neverland and the film ends.

I care less about the modern updates to Peter Pan & Wendy, and more about the lessons to be taken from it.  In that same vein, I am nonetheless baffled as to why they needed to make this more complicated.  As I mentioned in the introduction, no matter the sort of new coat of paint you give it, at its heart the story is about wanting to stay young.  You can see the film wrestle with how to get more out of this concept, and it gets clumsy and farfetched when it gets into the relationship between Peter and Captain Hook.  It almost literally says it cannot be as simple as Peter initially claims, that one is a pirate and the other is Peter Pan, and thus they are destined to be at odds.  To this end, they invent some cockamamy backstory about them once being friends.  It points to some rather flimsy aspects of the plot that remain half-baked despite its longer run time from the animated version.  What is meatier is when Wendy tells Peter of the real adventure of growing up.  This jives well with Faith in that we are called to always grow, or “grow up” if you will, in our relationship with God.  We cannot do as Wendy at first wants, to remain just as she is in that moment in time.  If we become static in our relationship with God, it means that we have stopped listening to Him.  The road to God never ends, though it is tempting to equate Neverland to Heaven.  It is a problematic comparison, but like in the movie, it takes belief to get to it.  In the film, this is called “happy thoughts,” though faith is a bit more complex.  At the same time, listening to God does not have to be hard.  Sometimes, all it takes is an acknowledgement of the blessings that God has brought you to be lifted on the wings of faith.

Ultimately, I suppose my beef with Peter Pan & Wendy is that it is can be a fitting metaphor for growing in faith in God, but it is a blah movie.  I am not sure if I would say it is an improvement over the classic, either.  It looks like Disney swung and missed on this one, which might explain why it was released only on Disney+ and not in theaters.  If it had, you probably would have gotten this review sooner.  As it is, I would not recommend either this version or the older one.