One night, young Wendy Darling takes to the skies of London with Peter Pan, a boy who can fly but refuses to grow up. Michael and John, Wendy’s juniors, as well as Tinkerbell, a tiny fairy, are on the trip to Never Land. There, the villainous Captain Hook plots revenge against Peter. We know the rest, JM Barrie’s play having been adapted many times, faithfully and freely. Where is Peter Pan Wendy (Peter and Wendy)? Between the two.
Produced by Disney, the film is part of this vast project consisting in adapting the studio’s animated classics into live action.
However, unlike Cinderalla (Cinderella), Beauty and the Beast (The beauty and the Beast) Or The Little Mermaid (The little Mermaid), expected May 26, Peter Pan Wendy does not come out in theaters, but lands directly on the Disney+ platform. We are therefore talking about lower production and advertising budgets, for a calculated financial risk.
Because you should know that Hollywood has often found itself with costly flops on its hands by transposing the adventures imagined by Barrie to the big screen. This was the case with the two most recent attempts: Peter Panby PJ Hogan, in 2003, and Bang, by Joe Wright, in 2015. One would almost be tempted to speak of a curse. Even Steven Spielberg, whose Hook (Captain Hook) nevertheless brought in money in 1991, declared himself disappointed with his film.
What immediately draws attention to this production is that it was co-written and directed by the prodigiously gifted David Lowery. For the record, we owe him A Ghost Story (A ghost story), supernatural meditation on grief, and The Green Knight (The green knight), bewitching medieval chronicle. In a family register, Lowery has also produced Pete’s Dragon (Peter and Elliott the dragon), which was already a live-action adaptation of a Disney animation.
Alas, this proposal turns out to be less “left field” than Pete’s Dragon. There are certainly some intriguing changes, like Captain Hook’s past, but overall it never feels like Lowery has appropriated the dramatic material: you feel the command. An expertly executed commission (fine-tuned staging, neat compositions), but devoid of passion or artistic identity.
Visually sumptuous
Moreover, in Peter’s lair, the decorations and lighting evoke Pan’s Labyrinth, by Guillermo del Toro. We are also entitled to a nod to the “perforated attic” ofEdward Scissorhands (Edward Scissorhands), itself a tribute to Ivan’s childhoodby Andrei Tarkovsky.
Like del Toro’s masterpiece again, Peter Pan Wendy, despite its title, is carried by a young heroine who refuses the reality of adults and who flees into an imaginary world that is more dangerous than expected. This is the main distinction of the adaptation of Lowery compared to the previous ones: its focus on Wendy (the interpretation of Ever Anderson is precisely the only one to have relief). A conversation between Wendy and her mother, then another between the teenager and Lily the Tigress, suggests a feminist angle, but this concern is ultimately only touched upon.
Sometimes energetic, sometimes lethargic, the rhythm is very uneven. Apart from the final confrontation on the ship, the adventures lack that fairy dust of which Tinkerbell has the secret. In short, despite its aesthetic qualities, Peter Pan Wendy is hardly memorable. For a lifting of the curse, it will take another adaptation.