Neverland (2011)

It is a performances centric movie

Boring

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Didn't realize this had been made as a series, but it shows when watching it as a full film. It might have worked if they'd got some serious editing done first. It drags on and on for hours to the point that what was interesting becomes boring. Gave it 4 because other than the tedium it was well made.

When SciFi made "Tin Man", I was blown away by the imaginative spin on such a classic story. I was less impressed by "Alice", but still enjoyed parts of it. Sadly, "Neverland" continues that downward trend by producing a paper-thin storyline "backed up" by acting that was equally as weak.For a basic plot summary, "Neverland" tells the story of how James Hook, Peter Pan, and a gang of "Lost Boys" end up in the wondrous Neverland world, as well as how they all grow into the roles we are accustomed to seeing from them. The story begins in early 20th century London, where Hook is harboring a gaggle of street boys who serve to protect his "business interests" (i.e. petty theft). When one stolen object transports the lot of them into Neverland, however, Hook shows his true colors while Pan & Co. must decide who to cast their lot with...the pirates or the Indians.The trouble with this miniseries, plain and simple, is that it is just so poorly written. The basis of the "first time in Neverland" plot is okay, but everything beyond that is underachieving. There are no compelling motivations for the characters to act as they do, while the characters themselves are written about as shallow as humanly possible. Never once during the entire production did I feel even a twinge of emotional or genuine feeling for anything that was going on. There are a few "canon moments" that elicited a reaction from me, and that is the only reason I can give the experience two stars (1.5 would be more exact).The sub-par acting only hurts matters. While Charlie Rowe is passable as Peter, the two other "pirate leads" (Rhys Ifans & Anna Friel) are uninspiring to say the least. They may be decent actors in their own right (I don't know much about either of them), but it doesn't shine through whatsoever here. The same goes for any other pirate, Indian, or Lost Boy...they don't produce a connection to any character. Again, however, this was likely in large part due to the "polished turd" effect of such a stinker script.One special note: What probably (more than anything) gave me the confidence to pull this review out of rock-bottom (1-star) status was the performance of Bob Hoskins as Smee, reprising his role from Steven Spielberg's "Hook". He is an absolute joy to watch and steals nearly ever scene he's involved in!Overall, a miniseries prequel of this nature can be judged successful only if, after watching, the viewer can judge it worthy of the original material's "canon". I cannot make that claim for "Neverland". It doesn't really cheapen the canon in any way, but just completely fails to execute what could have been a decent idea instead. If you are looking for a "Pan fix", go watch "Hook" again instead...you'll get much more out of it than this prolonged piece of mediocrity.

Sky Movies gives us a two part TV Miniseries which details the origins of Peter Pan, the Lost Boys and Captain Hook, here starting out as a gang of London thieves, with 'Jimmy' Hook a fencing instructor and ex-socialite. One day, sent out by a mysterious client, the group come upon a magic orb, which ends up transporting them to, where else, Neverland. Of course, this isn't the first time the orb has brought people to Neverland, as the group soon discover both a Native American tribe and a band of Pirates. Loyalties are tested, promises broken and destruction awakens as Hook and Peter's once strong bond is gradually torn apart.Too compressed and often in a hurry, 'Neverland' is never outright boring, mainly thanks to a terrific cast, but it squanders them and its premise with indecisive, clunky storytelling and a lack of charm or humour. Writer-Director Nick Willing assembles a lot of great ideas (having Hook and Peter being friends in a pseudo-paternal relationship, exploring the nature & history of Neverland, seeing Hook's downfall and temptation to evil, the ever present fears of death and growing up, much lie the original take) but is also trying to balance them out with action setpieces and a number of auxillary subplots (including one involving a secret society and alchemy, another involving the fairies and their city, yet another involving the pirates trying to take over the fairies and steal their magic, leading to yet another WE'LL 'RULE THE WORLD' plot complete with bloated monologues) and well, you can already see what's wrong.Despite the generous two and a half hour runtime, the series is in such a rush to do everything that a lot of ideas feel half baked, and are not allowed a full resolution. The first episode in particular has enough material and plot threads to last two or three episodes of a longer miniseries. Heck, for a supposed 'prequel', there are a number of inconsistencies and errors that don't quite match up with the original take (Peter's memory is finicky but intact, Tinkerbell is a little too wise and ultimately, how Peter travels without the orb in the end is never explained.) And the mediocre action, complete with crash zooms to make it more 'intense', and lax CGI, even by TV standards, don't exactly help matters either.A real shame as the cast here are quite solid. We have a decent selection of child actors, with Charlie Rowe doing a fairly good job as the mischievous yet charismatic Peter (though he almost never shuts up during the first episode and Willing keeps giving him exposition to say). However, this is very much Rhys Ifans' show as Hook, and he absolutely nails; by turns tragic, lovable and threatening, Ifans commands the screen every time he's on. Supporting them are the likes of Anna Friel as Captain Elizabeth Bonny, Charles Dance as the alchemist, Q'orianka Kilcher as Aaya (Tiger Lilly) and Charlotte Atkinson/Kiera Knightley as Tinker Bell, body and voice respectively. They are all good, but don't get a whole lot to do, with Dance relegated mainly to exposition about Neverland and the orb. Oh, and Bob Hoskins is back as Smee, but he is wasted with no real material to work with.In the end, 'Neverland' isn't horrific television, but it is really pedestrian and ultimately, disappointing. Everything here was assembled to make it work, and yet, a muddled script that tries to do so much with so little time just leads to a great big mess, and not something I'll be desperate to see again. Say what you wish about 'Hook', at least it had charm and knew what it wanted to be. This doesn't, and that's just sad.

I have watched everything in history about Peter Pan. I loved many versions and even enjoyed the history of how the story was created. But, this is absolutely my favorite of them all! This actually has depth and emotion. This explains many of the unanswered questions we all have when we watch the "Disney" version. This takes the fairy tale gloss off the finished product, but yet still has that fantasy flair and imagination.It never surprises me that high quality production, story, and acting gets overlooked and this never took off into further production. With passing time, the actors and production staff are getting older and into other projects.... oh how I wish people would spread the news about this great series and get it brought back or even better yet.... to the big screen. WE NEED A MORE GRITTY AND A DEEP PETER PAN! I was left wanting more!