Peter Pan (2003)
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Peter Pan Movie Review
Peter Pan is a 2003 family fantasy film directed by P. J. Hogan and starring Jason Isaacs, Jeremy Sumpter and Rachel Hurd-Wood. It’s a solid, but not particularly memorable flick.
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“To die would be an awfully big adventure“
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This version comes from Universal and is in many regards quite similar to the 1953 Disney version, but it’s just never as fun as that movie and thus it’s an inferior choice in my opinion at least. The storytelling is fine and the movie is thematically strong with the emphasis on motherhood and orphan children being so commendable, but the movie is otherwise quite boring how frenetic it is.
Yes, the flick is very much an action movie in how it is framed. A lot of its scenes are so reliant on constant, never-ending action that it really annoyed me and bored the hell out of me. It’s thus rather typical as the nineties and early 2000s children’s flick in frenetic and never particularly involving action.
I did like the characters though. The highlights are Captain Hook who’s so good here and quite memorable and well performed by Jason Isaacs, Pan who’s memorably performed by Jeremy Sumpter who was well cast here judging by his looks alone and of course Rachel Hurd-Wood is excellent as Wendy. She’s a revelation and it’s a shame that she didn’t have a bigger career afterwards. Her Wendy here is an admirable and very strong girl.
Whenever Peter Pan focused on family and what it means to have parents, it was great. Whenever it focused on action, it bored me. I did like the first act quite a bit and the third act is also very strong, but the second act is dull, overlong and never as adventurous as it thinks it is. A slower pace would have done wonders for this particular movie.
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I found the visuals okay, if not particularly cinematic. Some of the sets are fine, but the special effects should have been much better. The acting is strong across the board and the characterization also, but the action-adventure elements are weak. The dialogue and emotional connection are terrific. Overall, it’s a solid adaptation.
The 2003 Peter Pan adaptation is undone by its boring second act filled with many uninteresting, frenetic action sequences, but the rest of the movie is solid and in particular the acting performances and characterization are its highlights. It is messy and flawed, but it’s at its best when focusing on its strong emotional moments.
