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The reason behind the trend of Disney creating live-action adaptations of their traditional 2D animated movies is mostly related to the business side of things. It reintroduces these characters and storylines to new audiences both domestically and in foreign markets where western movies were not released, it renews the copyright to keep the specific designs protected from use in outside media, and it allows them to attempt to correct some of the outdated racial stereotypes. Peter Pan from 1953 fits the bill for one of these remakes because it is a tentpole feature in multiple Disney Parks, it has a timeless story and it has multiple lengthy sequences that are unquestionably racist. Unfortunately, much like many of the other adaptations, Peter Pan and Wendy does not do enough to set itself apart from the original to be worth watching.
Much like the original, Peter Pan and Wendy tells the story of Peter Pan, a boy who will never grow up because he lives in Neverland, who brings three young children to join in on his adventures in the continued fight against Captain Hook. Jude Law and Yara Shahidi star.
There are a few decisions made differently in this movie that do update it in a way that is kind of interesting. The characterization of Wendy is a little more fleshed out to make her into a character and not just “girl” and the same applies to Captain Hook’s “bad guy” and Tinker Bell’s “jealous fairy.” There is some, not a ton but some, nuance to these characters that make it a little more interesting in that regard. Tigerlily also has a little bit added to her character to give her a little more autonomy than just being the damsel in distress for the entire movie. Jude Law as Captain Hook is also engaging enough to watch as well because he brings something to the role that’s not just the fact that he’s a pirate of ambiguous motivation who wants to murder a small flock of children.
Where the movie falls short, and where all these movies fall short, is the transition from 2D animation (and it wouldn’t specifically be 2D, if someone did a live-action remake of Toy Story the criticism would apply) to live-action. The animations from the original are intentionally unreal and hyper-expressive which does not carry over to live-action well. Inherently a real person has to act and look like what one would expect a real person to look and act like which detracts from the viewing experience, especially when this is a streaming experience situated directly next to the original.
It is worth noting that this iteration omits the racist imagery regarding Native Americans and the entirety of one of the original songs (for obvious reasons), but beyond that, there is not a ton about this that sets it apart in the way that Cruella or Christopher Robin did. How much one enjoys this will depend on how much they enjoyed Aladdin and The Lion King because it is in that same echelon. It is not anything unique or different, nor is it offensively bad like Pinocchio or Dumbo. It is serviceable but not terrible.
Final Rating: 7/10
