Peter Pan
by
Kristen Ashley

I wished I could smell it, taste it and touch it because it looked so good and sounded so good, it just had to be an all-around sensory delight. I found P. J. Hogan's Peter Pan practically flawless. I wished it had been released when I was a twelve year old girl, I could have turned in Luke Skywalker for the long lashed, spikey haired Peter.

Granted, I haven't read Peter Pan, but this movie sure makes me want to...Victorian England never seemed so warm yet elegant, Neverland never felt so adventurous and terrifying and Captain James Hook was never so seductive and evil.

Rachel Hurd-Wood shines as Wendy, her stunning, flawless face is a delight to behold for two hours. I was absolutely lost in her Wendy. If Wendy was that darling (no pun intended), that sweet, that loving, that damn girly, gorgeous and great with a sword and feathers in her hair, then I can imagine why Peter and the Lost Boys fell in love with her. She made me want her to take care of me...or to have a gorgeous darling girl just like her.

Jason Isaacs plays Hook, thankfully without wild abandon. Instead of camping it up with the hair and the feathers, he behaves as if he is Hook (imagine that, acting! marvelous!). He's brilliant. Just enough evil to be scary but not tumbling over-the-top so he seems silly. Neither is he overly seductive...which is not to say that he doesn't attract your attention in a variety of ways. I can't say enough about Isaacs...to be a believable Hook is pretty amazing. I mean, the man has better hair than Cher ever had (or paid for) and the twirl on the skirt of his coat is to die for. Isaacs was so good, I wasn't sure I wanted the crocodile to have his way. The credit can't all be given to him, the production team gave him a magnificent hook, and toned down the lace -- not to mention our first encounter that included a wild, frightening visual and emotional insight into Hook. Yee-ikes.

The strong casting of the lovely Olivia Williams as Mrs. Darling, Richard Briers as Smee, Ludivine Sagnier as Tinker Bell, and Harry Newell and Freddie Popplewell as John and Michael Darling just added icing to the cake...not to mention the Lost Boys, who were cute without being cutesy.

And the soundtrack isn't anything to sneeze at, either.

But the real star is the design and special effects...I'd pay double to see them. The film is absolutely gorgeous, so beautiful you want to claw your way into the screen to be in London or Neverland or both. You want to fly and see fairies dancing and pick up a sword and fight on a pirate ship. I felt twenty years melt away and I became a girl again, lost in a fairy tale. It was spectacular. The furniture, clothes and cotten candy clouds...just amazing.

The "practically" part of the flawless comes from Jeremy Sumpter's Peter Pan. He is mostly on the mark, but he does slip every once in awhile. I also found Lynn Redgrave outclassed by practically everyone. And the movie is quite violent; there is death and blood, and overall it is quite dark. This isn't part of its flaws, I just would be careful what age kids (or temperment of kids) I'd take to see it.

But overall, I'd recommend it with no qualms...I almost want to see it again. It was fantastic.

©2002 Lovell Mahan-Moutaw
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