Peter Pan & Wendy:

The trailer was the most magical thing about this remake

Kirsty Dow
15th May 2023
Image from IMDb
Upon watching the trailer for Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy I was promised magic and adventure with a poignancy that spoke to me as a 20 year old feeling slightly wobbly about becoming an ‘actual grownup’. However, whilst the trailer looked magical, the film left me feeling disappointed. 

We meet Ever Anderson’s Wendy Darling, as she grapples with the impending doom of starting at boarding school. Not ready to leave the nursery walls behind, Peter Pan presents the perfect escape to a place where you need never grow up; Neverland. Together with Wendy’s younger brothers, John and Michael, the two come up against Pan’s old foe, Captain Hook (Jude Law).

Anderson captures the deep seated longing for things to stay the same and the sadness this nostalgia brings brilliantly in an enthralling performance and throughout the film, Wendy’s strength and assured grasp of what’s important to her shine through, which, ironically, makes her seem quite grown up in comparison to the often bratty Peter Pan (Alexander Molony). Peter’s boyish arrogance is believable in Molony’s performance and in fact made me dislike Peter at times, but it is Anderson who steals the show.

Peter’s travelling companions promise what Neverland has in store. Fairies and shadows that take on a life of their own? Exciting! However, Neverland itself was lack-lustre. Though certainly a different sort of place to the Darling’s Edwardian London, it wasn't exactly magical, but sparse and grey.

poignant lines about growing up which could really resonate with us as university students, caught between the limbo of schooling and adulthood

Likewise, Law’s Hook failed to live up to expectation, being neither particularly scary, nor particularly funny, he instead teetered on the edge of the two. However, I did enjoy the backstory to his and Pan’s relationship which added intrigue and some sympathy on my part, particularly surrounding Hook’s views on the fetters of aging, which mirror Wendy’s from the beginning.  

There’s some lovely, poignant lines about growing up which could really resonate with us as university students, caught between the limbo of schooling and adulthood. It was Wendy's words in the trailer: “To grow up might just be the biggest adventure of all.” that promised a new perspective on adulthood which drew me to the film, hoping for more wisdom. On this the film did deliver, in a conversation between Wendy and her mother. Though Wendy later parrots these words back to Peter at the film's conclusion, the fact that he doesn't heed them takes away their power.

The film overall held a tone of sadness that it never quite managed to shake, right down to Peter and Wendy’s bittersweet parting. Therein lies the crux of it; this film simply wasn’t fun enough. Disney films should blend the serious theme behind it with fun and adventure, but Peter Pan and Wendy failed to get that balance quite right.                     

Although the trailer was captivating, it was unfortunately composed of the film's best bits, leaving  me wanting more. The story was good enough but as the credits rolled my final thought was, “Oh, is that it?”  

Peter Pan & Wendy is available to stream now on Disney+

AUTHOR: Kirsty Dow
TV Sub-Editor :)

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