Peter Pan (2003 film)
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| Peter Pan | |
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| Directed by | P. J. Hogan |
| Produced by | Patrick McCormick |
| Written by | J.M. Barrie (book) P. J. Hogan (screenplay) Michael Goldenberg (screenplay) |
| Starring | Jeremy Sumpter Rachel Hurd-Wood Jason Isaacs |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Donald McAlpine |
| Editing by | Garth Craven Michael Kahn |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures (USA, Canada, UK, France, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand) Columbia Pictures (all other areas) |
| Release date(s) | 25 December 2003 (USA) |
| Running time | 113 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$100,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Peter Pan was a film released on December 25, 2003, by Universal Pictures. P. J. Hogan directed a screenplay he had co-written with Michael Goldenberg which was based on the classic children's play and novel by J. M. Barrie. Jason Isaacs played the role of Captain Hook and Mr. Darling, while Jeremy Sumpter played the title role, Rachel Hurd-Wood portrayed Wendy Darling, and Ludivine Sagnier played Tinkerbell. Noted actress Lynn Redgrave played a supporting role as Aunt Millicent, a new character specifically created for the film.
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[edit] Storyline
"All children grow up... except one."
Those words from the novelization of Barrie's play (though in a different order) begin the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan.
Peter Pan returns several times to his birthplace, London, before returning to Neverland. Eventually he will bring several children, who become known as the Lost Boys, back to Neverland with him. These boys consider Peter a close friend and regard him as a foster father.
During one of his trips, Peter loses his shadow in Wendy's house, and when he comes back to get it he brings Tinkerbell, a fairy, with him. What Peter doesn't realize is that he has inadvertently started a love triangle between himself, Wendy, and Tinkerbell. Both girls hold childish crushes on Peter, but he remains completely oblivious to this.
This love story was adapted from the original play. J. M. Barrie might have wanted to do the same thing in the original novel (see below), but the tone more mature.
[edit] Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy was the original title of the third Peter Pan novel. The movie begins in the same manner as this short 200-page novel, by explaining that Peter was the only child who would never grow up.
The original play explains part of the background behind Mr. and Mrs. Darling, Wendy's parents, and how they first met. It also shows that the family has such financial problems that they begin worrying about keeping Wendy, because "she was another mouth to feed." Mr. Darling was more concerned than his wife. While he counted every penny and searched for a way out of their economic woes, Mrs. Darling just wanted to make a decision. All of these background details, however, are left out in the movie.
In both the original play and the novel, Peter Pan invites Wendy Darling to Neverland so she can act as a surrogate mother to his gang of Lost Boys. When Wendy asks Peter to bring her brothers John and Michael, who are asleep, he agrees and takes all three of them. It is implied in the play that Wendy is attempting to escape the financial tension of her household. The movie omits this, and brings out Wendy's developing crush on Peter, also found in Barrie's original play, more fully.
In Neverland, the characters have several different adventures. At one point the fairy Tinkerbell nearly dies, and Peter finally has a climactic confrontation with his nemesis, Captain Hook of The Jolly Roger. In the end, Wendy decides that she belongs back in her home, and brings all the boys, including the Lost Boys, back to her house in London.
Wendy grows older in London, but Peter remains ageless in Neverland. Though he promised to visit her again before they made their last farewells, in the 2003 film he never returns to London. In the novelization of the play, however, he returns once or twice for Wendy to do his spring cleaning. He then returns one more time when Wendy has become a mother, and takes her daughter Jane back to Neverland as his new mother for the time being. Eventually Peter also takes Jane's daughter Margaret (when Jane becomes a mother) to be his mother for the time. J.M Barrie finishes his novel by saying that every new daughter of the last mother will be Peter's new mother in turn, saying the cycle will go on, as long as children are happy, innocent and heartless.
[edit] Reaction
The movie was relatively popular with critics, but earned only $48.4 million at the box office in the United States and another $71 million outside of the U.S., compared with the film's $100-million budget. It faced competition from the highly-anticipated The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (released the week before), and from Cheaper by the Dozen, Cold Mountain, and Paycheck (all released during the same week). Audiences familiar with only the 1953 Disney film, and no other version, were shocked that the romantic angle of the play was so apparent in this latest film version, with some viewing it as a rather sleazy attempt to "sex up" the story although the romantic content consisted of little more than a chaste kiss. There was in the film, however, a scene not in the play in which Peter, still not having formally met Wendy, flies into her house and hovers in flight over her bed curiously gazing at her; Wendy awakens, and the startled Peter is sent flying upward by the shock of Wendy's seeing him. He comically bashes his head on the ceiling, and leaves quickly through the open window. Wendy is left believing that she dreamed the incident. The next day, she makes a drawing in school of Peter hovering over her, and the horrified schoolteacher mistakenly assumes it to have a dark meaning. The incident is played in the film as innocent comedy whose supposed double-entendre goes right over the heads of younger viewers, but apparently some audiences were offended. This viewpoint may have been furthered by the fact that reviewers at the time could not resist mentioning the film's "romantic side", and it is likely that this contributed to the film's box office failure. What also may have contributed to the failure may have been the slightly different ending on the pirate ship envolving the legendary fight between Hook and Pan. Though it supossedly never happened in the book, in the film, Hook grabs Tinker Bell and is able to fly, eventually fighting Peter with his new found ability. Though it may have been the biggest change from the novel to the screen, some Peter Pan fans may not have been pleased with this.
[edit] Trivia
A film titled Finding Neverland was released in 2004, a year after this Peter Pan. Finding Neverland is a semi-fictional account of the experiences of J.M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, that led to him writing the play. It was originally scheduled to be released in 2003, but its release was postponed so that its performance at the box office would not coincide with the release of the 2003 Peter Pan.
One of the songs, "Flying," from Peter Pan is used as the theme song for the Disney theme parks' "Year of a Million Dreams."
The song "Clocks" written by British band Coldplay was used in the advertisement however it did not appear in the movie's soundtrack.
Teen actor Zac Effron, who had appeared in a local school production of Peter Pan, tried out for the role of Peter Pan.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Peter Pan at the Internet Movie Database
