Wendy

I'm so glad I saw the Mary Martin version as a child. This one is kind of horrifying and would definitely have given me nightmares. I would never bring a kid under six to see this. As I said in my title, it's closer to 'Lord of the Flies' than James Barrie's fantasy about the eternal magic of childhood. Peter is a sociopathic bully who brandishes a machete to keep the lost boys in line and the main takeaway seems to be it's gruesome to get old..

Love the feel of the beginning of this movie and was looking forward to seeing where it took me. However, by about mid way through it had not done anything to improve on that beginning. By the end it left me unfulfilled.

This film starts out kind of boring and lacking in substance. However, halfway through the plot suddenly goes completely bonkers and I'm struggling to figure out if the plot goes bonkers in a positive or negative way.

This movie is based on the story of Peter Pan, except it focuses on Wendy. The story follows Wendy and her twin brothers, James and Douglas, as they hop onto a train and end up on a magic island where kids don't age. However, things begin to get serious when Wendy learns of an old man on the island.

I mentioned how the film starts out lacking substance. This issue is mostly due to the pacing, which is probably my biggest issue with the film. The scene where the kids get onto the train to the island feels like it comes out of nowhere, despite the fact that there is some build up. And even though it's established that Wendy seeks adventure, I don't really get the impression that she is ok with running away. Her sudden fascination with the train is confusing and feels like a scene or two that would further establish her adventurous and reckless side has been removed. The middle of the movie also feels like certain scenes were cut off too soon. For example, when Wendy and her brothers run into Thomas, a kid from their town who ran away to the island when Wendy was a baby, they question why Thomas looks exactly the same as when he disappeared, and then the scene immediately ends. And after that scene, they rarely interact with Thomas and instantly go back to playing. It feets odd to me that the kids seem to forget about the fact that they just reunited with a missing kid from their town and he hasn't aged a day.

While the first half of the film feels very light on action, there's a very sudden shift in tone that honestly, made me uncomfortable, but in a good way. From that point forward, the film is a significantly more enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, I have issues with the ending. Obviously, I can't go into specifics, but let's just say that the ending raises more questions than answers. I don't have a problem with ambiguous endings, but when you're more confused because of said ambiguity, then I take issue.

I rate this film 3 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 13 to 15. It came out in theatres on February 28th and the film is now out on digital.

Reviewed by Calista B., KIDS FIRST! Reporter

Thought it was ok, couldn't keep me engaged had to keep rewinding. My 6 year old kiddo would not watch. Thought it was trying to be like Where the Wild Things are and Peter Pan. I guess if you never watched Peter Pan or Where the Wild Things are it could be ok. The picture, acting, sound track was decent. Maybe if they would of added Lord of the flies scenes in the mix to copy, it might of made the 8 start list.

This is not a movie for kids. This is not a REMAKE of peter pan, its an adaptation, an independent story of its own, inspired by another story: peter pan. It really seems like a lot of bad reviews are from parents who were under impression of taking their kids to see a version of peter pan story and were dissapointed cause "they ruined the original story". Thats not the case and theres no point giving the movie a 1-star review just because kids wanted to leave the theatre during the film. its a film made for adults and the adults might still like it.

Beautiful movie thougt it really lost its grip towards the end. worth checking out, but nothing groundbreaking.