Jude Law's Full-Throated Performance as Captain Hook is the Most Distinctive Thing in Disney's Passable but Unnecessary Peter Pan & Wendy Remake
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The trend of turning classic Disney animations into live-action remakes has reached a new low with the upcoming release of The Little Mermaid, a movie that has gone viral for its horrifying confirmation that adding lips to both a crab and a fish is a crime against humanity. This makes this month's release of the inoffensively fine Peter Pan & Wendy seem dreamy in comparison, but it's impossible to watch yet another take on JM Barrie's impish hero without wondering why we're here again. Within the last 20 years alone, there have been multiple attempts to tell the story of Peter Pan, with PJ Hogan's 2003 Peter Pan, Joe Wright's 2015 Pan, Benh Zeitlin's 2020 Wendy, 2011's Syfy series Neverland, a much-ridiculed 2014 live retelling on NBC, 2020's semi-homage Come Away with Angelina Jolie and 2022's little-seen The Lost Girls.
Disney's Peter Pan & Wendy is flying onto Disney+ rather than risking a theatrical release, a smart decision for it also vastly lowers expectations. It's a slightly more impressive beast, visually grander and with a tad more thought behind it thanks to David Lowery, the arthouse auteur better known for more challenging films like A Ghost Story and The Green Knight. While Peter Pan & Wendy isn't as carefully crafted nor as emotionally transcendent as Pete’s Dragon, it still represents a solid “one for them” paycheque gig. Lowery, along with co-writer, long-time collaborator and ex-Polyphonic Spree member Toby Halbrooks, tells the story in mostly familiar strokes with just a few tweaks, of Wendy Darling (Milla Jovovich’s impressive daughter Ever Anderson) travelling to Neverland with her two brothers and her infamous tour guide Peter Pan (Alexander Molony), a story book legend brought to life.
The most distinctive thing in Peter Pan & Wendy is Jude Law's full-throated performance as Captain Hook, the actor further edging into his 50s with scuzzier roles that subvert the pretty-boy arrogance of his on-screen youth. There's some, if not quite enough, texture to his relationship with Peter, the latter played as a selfish and impetuous egotist, almost fascinatingly veering into villain status. But Lowery’s film mostly plays it safe, only slightly remixing the beats we know a little too well, wrapping them up in a pretty enough package that will get tossed aside and forgotten about once opened. It's by no means the rockiest trip we've taken to Neverland but let's all pray it's the last.
