watching movies one cup at a time

What happens when Peter Pan grows up? It’s an interesting question. And one this movie attempts to answer. The story is set when Peter Pan is in is late 30’s and has completely forgotten his past. He stayed in the real world, got adopted, got married and now has children of his own. And in the process he became an overworked businessman who has lost touch with his family. A trip back to London sparks a new confrontation with Capt. Hook, played by Dustin Hoffman, as he kidnaps Peter’s children to provoke him into a fight. However Hook is disappointed to find a middle-aged out-of-shape Peter, played by Robin Williams, and not the young scraper he feels was his only worthy foe. Peter eventually remembers who he is and the two enemies fight it out. And Peter returns home with a new sense of joy and all is well in the world.

Overall it’s a fine movie. Everyone does a fine job, and as a family movie it works quite nice. But it just doesn’t quite make it to being a good movie. One thing that’s bothersome is Robin Williams’ hammy acting. You always feel like you’re watching Robin Williams do his act and not a real character. In some movies that works, but in this one it’s distracting and just not believable. Dustim Hoffman deliberately plays his Capt.Hook way over the top and it actually works very well. But why the odd overbite and massive black eyebrows? Perhaps it helped exaggerate the character to cartoonish levels.

Another thing that really bugged me were the Lost Boys. In the original play and in the well-remembered Disney film, there are only a small handful of lost boys. But in this movie it’s expanded to about 50. And it looks way too consciously politically correct. It’s like someone came in with a checklist for a multi-national group of kids. I’m not saying they should all look the same, it just felt very forced in this case. And the whole skateboarding, basketball thing again just seems like some marketing committee spitting out things like “young boys like skateboarding. put skate-ramps and half-pipes in the movie.” It all rings hollow and doesn’t feel genuine to the story at all.

There are some really interesting camera movements in this film that totally tip you that it’s a Steven Spielberg film. You have to hand it to him, he does have a lot of talent. Any film he touches is going to have some very interesting elements thrown in that just wouldn’t be there in the hands of a lesser-director.

Again, overall, a fine family movie you can watch with your kids. It’s not bad and if you can enjoy it for what it is, you will have fun.