Peter Pan

The 1950's era was certainly one where I was unable to really have access to the films. Yet again we find a film where I only had very rare glimpses of it, very rarely getting to see the full film and more often than not would see clips through other sources.

Peter Pan is perhaps one of the most magical films out of this era, and the plot is certainly what helps with this feeling. While Peter Pan does have a very similar feeling to Alice in Wonderland in terms of meeting the worlds inhabitants through one encounter after another, Peter Pan links it all together in a much more cohesive way with a story about revenge. This gives the film a larger sense of plot and makes it feel less episodic than Alice does which is a perk. The plot itself is fairly simple, Captain Hook wants revenge on Peter Pan, while our hero shows Wendy, John, and Michael around Neverland.

Neverland is perhaps one of the most interesting places we get to explore, it provides numerous locations and inhabitants for us to meet and each area feels unique enough to stand out, yet none of it really feels out of place. All of the animation is quite well done, and during the 1950's period it felt as if the animation only got better as time went on.

In terms of characters we do get a slightly mixed bag. Disney really went for a much more comical villain with Captain Hook, who most likely paved the way for Mad Madame Mim, and is one of the most enjoyable villains we get out of the canon. Our four main heroes are a lot of fun to watch as they embark upon their adventures in Neverland, and while Peter is flawed this is quite normal given how he has never grown up so it would be quite odd to expect him to act more like the heroes of other films, or in more adult manners. We do get a couple sour points where a lot of the female characters seem to be played a bit too much in the jealousy department, while we also get some offensive characters out of the Indian camp. For the latter, while it may not be PC today, we do need to keep in mind this film was made during a much different time and with a different mindset. While it does not excuse things, it's just easier to keep a more open mind about this as you go into the film itself.

As far as music goes, the most famous of the songs is "You Can Fly, You Can Fly, You Can Fly!" and is one of the more memorable songs. With that said, the rest of the songs are quite enjoyable and are fairly bouncy for the most part. The only song that is rather iffy is, of course, the song sung at the Indian camp for obvious reasons.


4/5