Okay, so a little history: if you are younger and you're watching this, you may notice
that when you go to the video store or, Hell, if you still go to any video stores,
you'll see a lot of Disney sequels like Cinderella 2 or The Little Mermaid 2 or
Lion King 2. The reason for this is that there was a time when hand-drawn
animation was dying; I mean, okay, you could argue it's not really around much
anymore especially cinematically, but Disney was losing it big time. Most of
their films were not making money so they did a lot of direct to DVD sequels
and most of them were pretty bad. This is worth mentioning because one or two
actually made it to the big screen and in this case, it's Return to Neverland, the
sequel to one of Britain's most beloved children's stories. When it came out, it
was panned. The critics hated it
everybody said its just another direct to DVD movie just thrown on the big screen
given a little bit more budget, it's a waste of time. So, that's the movie I was
waiting to see and, honestly, I don't think that's what I got. Okay, it's not great but
it was actually a little better than what I was expecting kinda sorta...
Okay, well, it's years later.
Wendy is grown up and has a family of her own, but unfortunately it's during
wartime. Oh yeah, we're going there. Not only is Wendy's husband going off to war
but it also looks like that her children, one being the main character Jane, are about
to get sent away because of the bombings. Jane has forced herself to grow up
faster than most children because of the obvious situation. While Wendy still tries
to tell stories of Peter Pan and imagination, she just can't seem to get
into him anymore and understandably so. But that all changes when one night
Captain Hook returns, kidnaps Jane, and takes her to Neverland mistaking her for
Wendy but Peter Pan finds her and saves her and thus she tries to figure out how to
get back home using her logic and not really knowing how to use her
imagination. So, the lost boys had to learn how to be more reasonable even
allowing a first lost girl and she has to learn how to be playful and creative
all while avoiding the evil grasp of the pirates. The major criticisms that
everybody makes about this movie is that it didn't need to exist and
they're right, this doesn't need to exist; the first Peter Pan is fine exactly how it
is both the book and the play hint that there's other adventures that go on but
it's not something we always necessarily need to know. I guess for me though I
grew up with a show called Peter Pan and the Pirates. It's a show not a lot of
people know about but it was damn good. It explored Neverland, it explored the
characters and they treated it very very seriously.
Yeah, did that need to exist? No, but I would have missed out on all these great
adventures. Return to Neverland kinda has a similar feel, except in the Disney
universe. It is still clearly the Disney Peter Pan and the Disney Captain Hook. In fact, the
voices they got to replace them are amazing. They sound just like the
original actors but that doesn't mean anything if there isn't a good story to
go along with it and this story... yeah, has a little bit of the liar revealed elements
to it but it doesn't focus on them that long and all the other elements they
kinda take from the original book. For example, there's a scene where Jane says
she doesn't believe in fairies I sorta rolled my eyes and said "oh yeah, well we
all know that this is because of the first movie..." wait a minute, they didn't
do that in the first movie. We also have the manipulation of Hook with Wendy
except this time it has to be Jane but this was a great scene too because it
showed that Hook could be very clever; he wasn't just a dumb pirate who waved his
sword around, he actually did have a little bit of a mind and the struggle
Jane goes through is a very understandable struggle you see the war
they show you some of the grittiness. I mean, okay, not too far; they don't show the dead bodies
or anything but they show it's tough. She isn't just a stick in the mud you
completely understand why she has this mindset and why it's hard for her to
imagine things. Heck, why its even hard for her to be happy. Now, with that said, there are
definitely are things you can complain about. For example, they have pop songs
oh yeah and they really don't fit. This one song that the Lost Boys sings that
sounds like a traditional Disney song but aside from that all the songs are sung by pop
singers and their early 2000s pop singer so they had that scratchy voice that's supposed
to sound tortured and it sounds like shit. It sounds like shit, it's awful, it's
distracting, it's a slap in the face every time there's supposed to be an
emotional moment. I hate it when they do this with Disney films, especially ones
that take place at a long time ago and in fantasy land so you just hear this
incredibly dated 2000s song and UGH it hurts every time you hear it. Also the voice
actress for Jane is kinda hit and miss; sometimes she really gets the lines
right and other times it sounds a little forced. But it's nothing too distracting.
There's also some weird changes that I never quite got, like instead of a
crocodile they have this giant octopus or squid something like that and now
he's the thing that chases Captain Hook. It's funny and it still animated well
but why didn't they just do the crocodile? They just say he's gone but why? This
octopus thing does the exact same thing I don't get why they need to switch it
out. But for the most part, what they do is switch out or keep in is actually kind
of welcomed and besides that's not the focus the focus is on Jane interacting
with the lost boys and trying to get back her childhood
which, yeah sounds a little familiar, right? I guess if you do have to compare these two I would
say Hook is the better movie but I don't know for a sequel to Disney's Peter Pan
this is kind of exactly what I would expect. It has some really nice imagery
like when Hook is taking Jane to Neverland this ship is flying through
London it looks amazing. There is a wonderful scene at the end where young Peter Pan
meets grown-up Wendy and it plays out exactly how it should play out it's not
too emotional but it's not too simple either it's kind of how I think of the
movie. If you're looking to find problems with it you won't find any shortage you
can definitely find things that don't quite work or maybe you've seen in other
movies and such but if you legitimately want to see a sequel to Peter Pan and
you want to know what happens, I think this is a very delightful adventure. I
was really surprised I was not expecting to like this film I thought I was gonna
hate it like all the other critics did but I actually kind of enjoyed it. It's not
grand or epic but it's simple and nice. Did it need to be made? Probably not but
since it does exist I think its fine. I think kids can watch it and get a lot
of laughs and adults can watch it and enjoy some of the more emotional moments. It felt
like the people making it enjoyed the subject matter and weren't forced into
doing it. They appreciated the magic and the imagination and the humor and the
artwork and they want to do something very similar and in my opinion, they succeeded.
I guess it's not a favorite for a lot of Disney fans but for me I have no problem believing in
fairies with this one.