Peter Pan (2003)
Directed by P.J Hogan
Written by P.J Hogan
Starring Jeremy Sumpter, Jason Isaacs, Rachel Hurd Wood, Olivia Williams, Lynn Redgrave
Release Date December 25th, 2003
Published December 24th, 2003
There is a tradition on stage and in televised versions of Peter Pan that has Peter portrayed by a woman. I can’t pretend to understand why this is but it does remove some of Author J.M Barrie’s more uncomfortable suggestions about Peter and Wendy’s attraction to one another. In director P.J Hogan’s new film adaptation of the more than 100-year-old fairy tale, a boy rightfully portrays Peter. Though somewhat muted, the Peter-Wendy dynamic is once again in play. Whether or not it is to an uncomfortable degree is up to the viewer.
The legendary fairy tale about the boy who refuses to grow up stars Jeremy Sumpter in the role of Peter. However, from the beginning it’s clear that the real star of the show is Wendy played by Rachel Hurd Wood. When we meet Wendy we, like Peter, float to her window and listen in as she dazzles her younger brothers John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell) with stories of pirates, Indians and swordplay.
Their revelry is broken by the arrival of their aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) who informs their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Darling (Jason Isaacs and Olivia Williams), that it is time for Wendy to begin training for marriage. This means moving her out of her shared bedroom with her brothers and beginning training in elocution and manners. Essentially, it means it’s time to grow up.
Spying on this scene, Peter decides to reveal himself to Wendy and invite her to Neverland where she won’t have to grow up. This choice is made much to the dismay of Peter’s best friend Tink (Luvigne Sagnier). The scene is filled with meaningful looks and gestures of tentative flirtation and almost uncomfortable sexual tension. At Peter's invitation, Wendy with her brothers in tow is ready to fly off to Neverland.
Once in the pink clouds and green jungles of Neverland, Wendy hears the legend of Captain Hook (as tradition holds, Jason Isaacs, who also plays Wendy's father) and his band of pirates. Of course, Wendy's clumsy little brothers are immediately captured and it's up to Peter and Wendy to save them. In a wonderful action scene filled with terrific humor and exciting swordplay, Wendy and Peter save her brothers and introduce us to Hook's other nemesis, a giant alligator with a ticking clock in its stomach. The gator was previously bitten off Hook's hand as the result of a previous fight with Peter.
All of this happens very quickly. Director P.J Hogan keeps the pace and humor moving all the way through the film slowing down only momentarily for romantic interludes between Peter and Wendy. Despite what a number of critics have said about the sexual tension and romance between Wendy and Peter, it's not as creepy as it sounds. In fact, what director P.J Hogan really captures is the breathless exhilaration of first love. What Wendy and Peter experience is the first rush of the pubescent realization of romance and you can read a lot more into that if you like. I prefer the chaste impression of two kids for whom a kiss is the most sexual idea in the world.
Many films have attempted to capture the essence of that transition from adolescence into puberty, but few films are this successful. Entirely through the use of metaphor, Peter Pan is more true to the confusing emotions and careening hormones of puberty than most films that tackle the subject head on.
To top it off the film also is one of the best looking films of the year. The special effects and production design are as spectacular as anything you've seen this year and bring even more magic to this already magical story. Credit Cinematographer Donald McAlpine and Production Designer Roger Ford with fully realizing Neverland like never before.
At the helm of it all is Hogan who comes out of nowhere with a surprisingly confident rendering of this usual material. Hogan, with the help of Michael Goldenberg, also tackled the adaptation of the screenplay giving the whole production an unexpectedly auteurist vision.
The acting by these novice young actors is also spot on, especially young Rachel Hurd Wood who is spectacular as Wendy. She brings some amazing, unspeakable quality to Wendy that I can't quite put my finger on. Call it star quality or presence, whatever it is, it's something special. She and Jeremy Sumpter, best known for his work in 2002's Frailty, have a chemistry that many adult acting pairs would envy.
This film is a terrific surprise. An exciting, visually spectacular family film. A film that never panders and never pulls back from its rich subtext the way most cookie cutter Hollywood films in the same vein do. This is a film for the whole family, a story that will entrance children with its safe but exciting action and entertain adults with its rich subtext and storytelling. Peter Pan is one of the best films of the year.
