Who Cares About Casting? New ‘Peter Pan’ Looks Outright Bad, No Fun

Okay, everyone by now has seen or should have seen the trailer for Disney’s latest live-action remake, Peter Pan & Wendy. And, of course, the mainstream media has to highlight the people freaking out about Disney casting a black woman to play Tinker Bell.

But who cares that Tinker Bell is black? The gorgeous Yara Shahidi actually looks amazing! Also, who cares that not all of the “Lost Boys” are boys? The fact that they didn’t cast all white folk and all boys are not the problem. The honest fact of the matter is that this movie does not look whimsical or fun in the tiniest measurable amount of pixie dust.

 

Disney’s Peter Pan and Wendy trailer presents a movie that looks like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Hook, starring the late great Robin Williams, had a baby that decided to take itself way too seriously.

Of course, Tinker Bell has to talk because the Twittersphere would probably complain that it is some species of misogyny to keep her to just tinkling bells like in the original movie from Disney Animation and stage play by JM Barrie. And Wendy Darling has to take more of the Strong Female Lead type role. And we have to check off all of the proverbial boxes in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I don’t care at this point. Hollywood is going to Hollywood, and there is nothing wrong with an ultra-diverse cast. Hook proved that it works. But Hook was still a freaking comedy!

Walt Disney Studios has teased a movie that is extremely dark, chaotic, compromised by political correctness in a bad way, and just overall way too serious for a fairytale. This is the same problem Disney creatives have had for years now. They expect the fans to see a brown boy playing Peter Pan, female “Lost Boys,” an overzealous white-girl type Wendy, “authentic” natives, and let positive triggering do the rest while the focus on quality family fantasy story is pushed to the wayside.

But the worst crime I say this trailer makes is that it insists upon itself. It radiates this ego that everybody already knows Peter Pan, so there is no need to build any new sympathies with freshman audiences. It says, “you’ve all been here before, so let’s appease your woke millennial sentiments and give you the Lord of the Flies pseudo-sequel fantasy of your sanctimoniously post-modern imagination.”

Related: OpEd: Disney is ‘Going Broke’ But NOT Only Because It’s ‘Woke’

No wonder this movie is only bound for Disney+. It would be yet another Box Office bomb if released in theaters.

Again, I don’t care that Tinker Bell is black and Peter Pan is not white. Actually, when you look at the anti-colonialism message in the original play (“Red Coat”-wearing Captain Hook = Captain Cook), an anglicized brown boy who ethnically traces back to the former colonies actually makes sense to play the leading role! (Do you really think it was an accident Walt made Peter and all of the original Lost Boys American?)

My protest is all about the story, and this latest project appears to be nothing more than the extremely dark leftovers from atrociously lazy Chapek-Era marketing strategies.

But don’t worry, since Peter Pan & Wendy is being uploaded straight to Disney+, I’ll watch it for free and write a follow-up review, and I am more than prepared to rescind this prediction and admit if I am wrong.

Here is the trailer so that you can make up your own minds on the matter:

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