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Disney Made the Anti-Peter Pan Movie

Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy dropped on Disney+ Friday, April 28, and it took me about three times the film’s run time to finish it because I kept having to pause to find the attention span and patience to keep going.

Here’s the deal: this movie is nothing but a cringe-triggering, politically-driven rewrite that attempts to pretentiously hold itself as being morally superior to the near-perfect animated classic and delivers a visually stunning 2-hours of disillusionment and destruction of the actual story.

But, look, let’s start with the good stuff, shall we?

Peter Pan and Wendy Poster
Peter Pan and Wendy stars Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, Ever Anderson as Wendy Darling, and Jude Law as Captain Hook. Credit: Disney

Disney continues to make strides with its straight-to-streaming budgeted CGI, from the Darling’s house to Captain Hook’s pirate ship (although they could have done better with the crocodile).

I will agree with the critics that it is a visually spectacular film.

Jude Law also deserves praise for his ability to portray Captain James Hook with this script as miraculously as roses sprouting out of manure.

Now, onto the rest of it.

This is not Peter Pan as Walt or J.M. Barrie portrayed him. This is nothing joyful or whimsical about it. From the moment the Darling kids arrive in Neverland, it’s disillusionment 101.

It is the anti-Peter Pan movie because rather than being one last big child-like adventure where we accept at the end that it’s time to grow up, the whole movie tells kids one thing: you can’t have fun. You can’t escape reality for one freaking minute.

Wendy, Peter Pan & Wendy
Credit: Disney

Related: Tinker Bell Actress: Disney Remake “Corrects” ‘Peter Pan’ Story

Oh, and let’s talk about the battle of the sexes that these filmmakers decided to bestow. Rather than being capable in any way, John and Michael Darling are effeminate, useless wimps that need Wendy to “be the man” and protect them. Peter is scolded for being a normal boy, showing off, and having fun.

Instead of allowing Peter to show her Neverland, all Wendy does is doubts him immediately and push him into denial, completely ruining the world he has created for himself. She and Tiger Lilly act like they’re so much better than Peter and the rest of the lost boys (Tiger Lilly is literally on her high horse for the whole freaking movie!).

Wendy is not likable at all! She’s nowhere near that warm, loving character we saw growing up. She’s also painted as yet another one of Hollywood’s infallible female protagonists, and that makes her nearly insufferable and impossible to root for, unless you are into those sorts of roles. And while she’s held on a pedestal, her brothers, John and Michael, are also shown as being unforgivably weak and helpless compared to the animated movie.

Also, Tiger Lilly can’t be the one captured by Captain Hook anymore, it’s the little boys’ turn to do that. And we have to eliminate any sense of a romantic connection between Peter and Tiger Lilly, or Peter and Wendy, or Peter and Tinker Bell!

Speaking of Tinker Bell and Captain Hook!

Tinker Bell, Peter Pan & Wendy
Credit: Disney

How dare they make Tinker Bell a victim?! She could always be understood by Peter. But now they decided to make Peter completely deaf to her, where Wendy is the only one who can understand her. Unacceptable.

It is also unacceptable what they did to Captain Hook! Since JM Barrie penned the original stageplay, and in every version since, the same actor obviously plays Captain Hook and their dad, George Darling. There is great symbolism in that for a number of reasons, including the nature of kids to be initially antagonizing toward their father.

But now Captain Hook used to be a lost boy, and he’s just a scared little victim of circumstance who couldn’t get back to his mommy?

Captain Hook, Peter Pan & Wendy
Credit: Disney

I have nothing against Alan Tudyk or Jude Law. They both made the best of their role.

Who cares if the Neverland Indians were portrayed as a proper Cree Tribe? Who cares that Tinker Bell was black and the entire cast of Lost Boys and Pirates was one of the most statistically diverse casts in a Disney Movie? So what if Wendy is now Miss Boss Girl, who is not attracted to Peter at all and blatantly admits to all the motherless kids, “I don’t even know if I want to be a mother”?

Who cares? The laughs are replaced with a lecture. The fun was replaced with “corrections.” The fairytale was replaced with the worst bedtime story anybody could tell a child.

David Lowery should be ashamed of what he created.

For those who want to watch it anyway, Peter Pan & Wendy is available now on Disney+.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s and may not reflect the sentiments of Disney Fanatic as a whole.

T.K. Bosacki

Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, TK Bosacki is a professional writer, amateur adventurer, and lifelong Disney Fanatic. His Disney Park days include Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Nomad Lounge. He believes in starting at the Canada pavilion (IYKYK), and the Monorail is superior to all Ferry Boats.

One Comment

  1. Peter Pan and Wendy was the worst Disney film of all time and needs to be removed from Disney Plus.

    I have seen Peter Pan and Wendy and I thought it was going to be a fun film like the live action non Disney films Hook 1991 and Peter Pan 2003. And it was the worst film I’ve ever seen. Seriously what the heck happened to the fun and magic. The movie is very dull, boring. The lighting was very dark, even Neverland was also dark. There was no magic to be found. I didn’t like how disrespectful David Lowery was to JM Barrie’s Peter Pan story. I didn’t like Wendy, she was a bully to everybody around her and shoved her brothers John and Michael aside and also shoved Peter Pan and the lost boys and girls. Also she would not be able to fight the pirates singlehand since she didn’t really have experience with fighting pirates like Tiger Lily has. Also Tinkerbell was very disappointing, they made her very dark and didn’t hardly have any magic.

    Wendy is not a spoiled selfish bossy girl the Disney live action 2023 made her to be. In the original book Wendy is kind and caring for others including the Lost boys, John and Michael and Peter Pan. I didn’t like how they reduced Peter Pan from a brave daring fighter to a wimpy coward. Yes the original 1953 cartoon did have Native American stereotype scenes but it managed to be a fun lighthearted colorful movie. But in the 2023 remake, there was no color, no joy, awful lighting, and the songs were removed which was very disappointing also they still disrespected the Native American characters by hardly giving them screen time. I also didn’t like Tiger Lily who was also an awful character who also shoved everybody around like Wendy.

    I hope one day Peter Pan & Wendy 2023 will one day get removed from Disney Plus and become a lost film because it’s too much like The Last Airbender 2010 which I was disappointed in. Peter Pan and Wendy could’ve been a fun film had they not made it dark and depressing now I personally consider it the worst Disney remakes of off time. And while the Disney Plus company is at it. They should also remove Home Sweet Home Alone 2021 from Disney Plus which was also bad like they did with Artemis Fowl 2020.

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