Neverland (2011)

A Disappointing Continuation

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One gets the feeling that writers and producer have a great respect for JM Barrie's original work. They've exercised their personal artistic vision well (the crocs, possible logistics of the power of flight and how Peter came by them, the hooded figure, "Captain Bonnie", friends becoming enemies, Peter's life before "Pan"); while paying a kind of homage to the original work by taking the time to fold elements of it into their story. Things like the possible origin and depths of the animosity between Hook and Pan; what happened to Hook's hand and how the croc got a "taste for him"; why Peter can have such fits of forgetfulness and lack of concern with his past -- remain "forever child-like and innocent; why he had to return to the real world to eventually encounter Wendy and her brothers (I LOVE how they fold this in at the end!). Everywhere one looks, one sees respect for the original story. It was also a pleasure to see Bob Hoskins once again -- and for the last time -- revive the character of Smee as only he can. Well acted, well written, well conceived. Most of the negative reviews seem to hinge upon the story or characters not being what the reviewer wanted them to be. One of the essentials of watching this kind of movie is the ability to put one's expectations on hold for long enough to see just what the writers and producer have in mind and respect that this COULD be a valid prequel to a well-loved story.

I've give my rating a four because of the acting ability from all of the actresses and actors, I think they played their part well how ever I was not impressed by this series. What I wasn't impressed about was the story plot as a whole, it seemed like a fan fiction of when Peter meets Fagan who turns into captain hook.Peter was an orphan just like Oliver twist who happens to meet Fagan but instead he's named Hook. In the real story Peter wasn't an orphan, his parents were very much alive and he flew away to Kensington Gardens after hearing of his adult life. A fairy is born from a baby's laugh and Peter was 7 days old when he lived in Kensington Gardens, and Tinkerbell was born by his laugh. The TV series Neverland seemed to have forgot this and forgot the true story. I was very disappointed the true magic of Neverland wasn't portrayed.I think this TV series was another care of another classic being eroded away and the author's work being forgotten.

This is a prequel dealing with Peter Pan (Charlie Rowe) as an orphan on the streets of London. Peter and his band of thieves work as pickpockets. Their evil mentor Jimmy Hook (Rhys Ifans) gets them to steal a magical treasure which transports them to Neverland. Once there Hook join with a group of pirates led by Elizabeth Bonny (Anna Friel) in search of more magic dust. Peter lands with the Indians and the beautiful Aaya (Q'orianka Kilcher) where the people don't age.The story lack any pace. It drags along. With 240 minutes, this is way too long. It doesn't help that they explain away the magic. It reminds me of Star Wars explaining away The Force. Why can't they leave it alone? The acting is acceptable. All the big name give the expected performance. Charlie Rowe as Peter Pan is average. As for the production, it's got TV movie level. It's nothing to brag about. It's dark and dreary. Again all the magic is gone.

Think you know the infamous fable of Peter Pan and Neverland? Yes you say? Well, after watching the original television movie on Syfy titled Neverland almost all those questions you never thought to ask are finally revealed: Who's Peter Pan (Charlie Rowe)? Where did he come from? Who are the lost boys? How did they find Neverland? Why doesn't Peter Pan ever want to grow up? How did Peter Pan's friendship with Captain Hook even started? Why did they become sworn enemies? Why so many questions?I certainly love to answer all these questions but that would take the fun out of watching it for yourselves. What I can reveal is that the story takes us before Peter and his orphans friends got trapped in Neverland back in their hometown of London at the turn of the century. These poor kids have to survive hunger and find shelter from the police or whoever wants to turn them to the jail or the orphanage, these kids have learned the hard way of living and surviving without the supervision of an adult, except for a charismatic grown man by the name of Jimmy (Rhys Ifans). Peter and Jimmy have a special bond that is very apparent from their meetings and they both are streetwise and have learned to cheat and steal in order to survive. Apparently Peter and his gang are to going to help Jimmy rob this jewelry store in search for this magical "orb" which is valued at a very high price but apparently the robbery goes awry and Jimmy finds the orb inside a chest among with other valuables and is transported along with Peter's friends to Neverland: a world contained within this magical orb, it's sort of like a world or dimension caught within the real world inside this orb (as pictured above with Peter), a place where nobody ages one bit and time seems to be still, thus Neverland. When Peter finds he orb and follows his friends and Jimmy he realizes that his friends have been captured by pirates who had apparently been abducted more than a century before into this Neverland and he must now find a way to help them. Along the way he meets a tribe of American Indians that help Peter get his friends back, every one except for one: that's Jimmy who is now romancing his way out of trouble with the Captain of the pirates (don't worry, she's a female although it would have been interesting had it been a male, huh?) When Peter learns that Jimmy is still in the ship, he comes back to help Jimmy get away in a boat that's waiting for their escape but Jimmy, as it turns out, deceives everyone by turning his back on his best friend Peter, who is as astounded as I was. SPOILER ALERT: You know what's Jimmy's full name? James Hook.Throughout Neverland, Jimmy gets a chance to redeem his actions to Peter however every time that he gets Peter's trust (along with ours) he goes and does something even worse than the time before. All these lies and deceits lead to the death of one of Peter's friends, many Indians and even some creatures from Neverland as the fairies. As you may know, Tinker Bell helps Peter Pan recover from an injury where he almost loses his life (thanks, in part, to Jimmy-or should I say Hook?) and she takes Peter to a land of fairies somewhere in the forest and they give Peter back his life as well as new fairy-like properties like the ability to fly. It's still exhilarating to see the excitement in Peter's eyes when he learns that he's actually flying and with his new found power he has the courage to confront Hook and the pirates and try to restore peace to Neverland which may never happen, as long as we have Hook and pirates, there's always bound to be trouble. There's many great actors in Neverland, by the way: Charlie Rowe is a charming boy who is just as bit precocious and likable as Peter, then there's his best friend turned enemy James "Jimmy" Hook played by Rhys Ifans (remember him as Hugh Grant's roommate in Notting Hill, always with his underwear and no pants?), as well as Q'orianka Kilcher as the American Indian girl that helps Peter and friends despite everything he's caused on her people (she was Pocahontas in 2005's The New World with Colin Farrell), Bob Hoskins as a pirate (just like in 1991's Hook) and Keira Knightley as the voice of Tinker Bell. I recommend this movie for the whole family and make sure to catch both episodes since it's quite long so they had to break it into 2 parts, great special effects by the way you'll be blown away as to how much detail they were able to do here and it's on basic cable, it doesn't get better than that. Now about those pesky commercials though...