(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Pan is visually stunning with great fight scenes, but the story is too predictable, and left me with more questions in this prequel which I really don’t care about.

Rating: 3 Stars

The story of Peter Pan is probably the least story I like in the fairy tale totem pole. My first time to remember this story was the old Disney movie where even as a kid, I really didn’t much care for. The story is interesting to say the least, but there were other fairy tale stories that caught my attention (like The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast). So when this movie came out, I wasn’t completely sold, but hoped that the acting would suffice. Warner Brothers tried to make an original good prequel story, but in some cases it fell flat.

What I Like: I have to hand it to director Joe Wright for creating a visually stunning look at the place of Neverland. Just for the special effects alone the movie is worthwhile to take some kids and enjoy it. The costumes and set pieces were authentic and flashy. I liked how they made the city of London all dark and depressing, and Neverland is so bright and colorful. The fighting scenes were like scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean with intense action, sword fights, and great choreography. Every scene had a lot going on that makes it really chaotic in a good way. The one character in this movie that really caught my attention was Hugh Jackman as the pirate leader Blackbeard. Right when he started to premiere in the movie he made his presence felt, and why he is the leader. In some scenes he showed some vulnerability because he is very old, and needs fairy dust to rejuvenate to his younger self. Bottomline is his obsession is to find an endless supply of fairy dust to be immortal at all cost. Blackbeard was the best character in this movie. I did enjoy the character Mr. Smee which actor Adeel Akhtar did great in portraying this classic character as well. For this movie, I guarantee the kids will like it at least.

The So So: Garrett Hedlund plays James Hook, pretty much before he became the villain of Captain Hook. He was a long time prisoner of Blackbeard, until he finally escaped. In this movie he was a good guy, and shows some flashes of selfishness which leads to his evilness (I guess), I just don’t understand why he has a Southern accent. His character is different than the hook we’re used to, but i’m not buying his goodness in this movie. I feel like he had something up his sleeve. It is the only question i care about is that why he turned evil and create the story we all know? The ending of the movie teases that, and it really brings up my curiosity. Peter Pan, played by Levi Miller was decent as the character. You can tell his British accent isn’t great, but he did show some true emotion and bravery which is vital for the character. He just needs to brush up on his acting skills.

What i Didn’t Like: The Disney animated version of Peter Pan, many people considered it to be racist and insensitive to Native Americans. It is, but it was in the 50’s when the movie came out, so you would think that they will do better in a Peter Pan movie of today right? They did, but they get a Caucasion to play Tiger Lily, played by Rooney Mara. Don’t get me wrong, she acted well, but this was a great opportunity to cast a female Native American, but they swung and missed that opportunity and that is disappointing. At least the Natives in this movie wasn’t too stereotypical, and other than that it was pretty cultured with the actors. This movie had it’s share of weird moments. Most notably was before Blackbeard made his debut, all the pirates and prisoners were singing Nirvana’s song “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which really threw me off. First off, this movie was set in the early 1900’s and second, the song didn’t make sense to the situation. They did it again when the prisoners were walking the plank, and they were singing The Ramones’ song “Blitzkrieg Bop,” which once again, doesn’t make sense to the situation. It just didn’t make any sense for whatsoever to have these songs in the movie. They couldn’t be more creative than that. The story of the movie was very predictable. If you know the story of Peter Pan, you know what will happen, and I knew that the chain that Peter Pan wears will help him of some sort, and that his mom will be dead and he will talk to her in some sort of spirit form. They try to make the story unique for a prequel, but it was just a whatever straight from the vault type of story. Their comedic moments were complete misses and not funny, and what is up with the Neverland birds, they look like CGI effects from the 80’s, and that is not a good thing whatsoever. Lastly, it lead me with a lot of questions. Like why the nuns allow the pirates kidnap the orphans? Why the Natives turn to colorful dust and others just die? Where did Peter Pan get his hat on the end? These questions weren’t explained and it does bother me.

Overall: The movie is great for the eye, but not for the literary knowledgeable. I believe the kids will enjoy this movie at the very least, but it is not the Peter Pan the fans would like. It sets up for a sequel, but judging from the box office results. This movie will be a flop.

Rating: 3 Stars