Peter Pan (1953)

Animation phase is what I’m going through apparently. Totally unintentional! I just (last week) found time to drop by Future Shop to buy this new Disney vault release.  Who thinks these Disney vaults are stupid? It drives up the prices of Disney classics like crazy once they put them away again.  And then its the waiting game for them to be released after 10 years or something.  Either way, Peter Pan was Winter/Spring’s release of 2013.  I can’t wait for Fall, I think its supposed to be Little Mermaid. Let me just say, I have never watched Peter Pan before.  This is my first time.  I’ve only read the Disney storybook of it before many years ago when I was in elementary school.  Let’s go check out Neverland and never grow up!

I’m sure most of you should be familiar with the story of Peter Pan but still, I will give a brief summary of it here.  Mr. And Mrs. Darling’s house is where the story starts.  They have 3 children: their eldest daughter Wendy, the second is their son John and last we have the youngest Michael. They all have an attachment and praise for Peter Pan’s story. Wendy also believes that she captured Peter Pan’s shadow.  When Peter Pan himself shows up to get back his shawdow, he decides to bring Wendy along with John and Michael back with them so that Wendy could be their “mother” and tell the Lost Boys her stories.  With a little bit of Tinkerbell and her pixie dust’s help, they all set off to fly to Neverland, where the Mermaid Lagoon, Indian Camp and the famous villain, Captain Hook is. Captain Hook wants revenge for what Peter Pan did to his hand (which is now a hook) and also for his continual fear of the crocodile that follows him everywhere he goes.  With Wendy in Neverland and Tinkerbell jealous, he finds the opportunity to trick Peter Pan and hopefully capture him.

Peter Pan is different from a lot of Disney classics because for one, we have our hero and we don’t feature a Disney Princess.  It does keep the Disney magic going on.  Tinkerbell is a little pixie thats really made it back with her individual movies.  I haven’t seen any of the new ones, but I don’t really think I’d be cut out for it, since there was a previous of the Secret of Wings or whatever its called and starting mocking the dialogue.  Its probably for the little ones, which I don’t have any of my own yet.

As usual, this is definitely a classic.  Its not one of my favorites from this first viewing but it was pretty good.  Its a fun adventure movie about embracing and being courageous in growing up.  It doesn’t mean that you have to give you the dreams and wishes you had, even when reality hits us and makes us change a little and sometimes even forget the childish beliefs we used to have.

What really works for me in this is the fun characters. Wendy is a girl that day dreams and believes.  She is also responsible and the girl who has a really good balance and holds onto her beliefs and the morals. Her belief in Peter Pan is possibly what lures Peter Pan himself to show up into her life.

On the other hand, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys portray the exact opposite.  They are essentially kids that care about fun and games and that is the meaning of not growing up, not having to live with responsibilities. Peter Pan is the leader of the boys but he also is responsible and a hero to them because he cares about them.  However, when John and Michael hang out with them, because they are younger, they are easily influenced by what’s around them.  This is also a truth.  The characters are crafted to be very close to the how children would react and it gives this a certain level where kids will be able to relate to the characters.  On that note, Michael is probably the most adorable character in this because he is young and naive.

On the line of characters, what’s a good Disney movie without its villain? We have Captain Hook.  What makes him special is that we see that even villains have their fears and for him, its his fear of the crocodile that now follows him around after having a taste of his hand that Peter Pan chopped off.  The crocodile is hilarious because it starts off the rhythmic fun because as he approaches he has a the “tick-tock” from the clock he swallowed.  Something that symbolizes maybe a time bomb for Captain Hook?

Other than the villain, the formula of success usually includes a lot of fun tunes.  Every tune in Peter Pan makes you want to bob your head or tap your feet (or just get up and bounce around). We start off the fun with “We Can Fly”.  Once in Neverland, we jump into the boys wanting to head over to visit the Indian Camp and John leads with Following the Leader.  “Following the leader, the leader, the leader. Following the leader wherever he shall go” and its with the image below..After that tune, the animation pretty much sets up its own pace and we get a bit of adventure, action, duels, jealousy and some silly moments.

There are just so many Disney classics but even though this falls slightly short of my personal top 10. Its definitely worth of a viewing.  Its just so entertaining with mermaids, indians, upbeat songs that make you want to get up and move along, Michael is so cute with his teddy bear, flying around, pixie dust and all in all, super magical!

I sat and stared at how to write this review for a few days, which also leads to a whole bunch of pile up of reviews to do.  So expect them in the next few days!

Would you put Peter Pan in your Top 10 Disney Classics? If you had the choice, would you stay in Neverland and play with Lost Boys, swim with the mermaids, or dance with the Indians?

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