“Return to Neverland,” Disney’s merry sequel to “Peter Pan,” might seem a bit thin at first glance.
It comes in at 77 minutes and retraces most of the steps of its classic 1950 predecessor – arguably the only great cartoon feature produced by the studio between “Bambi” (1942), the last of its meticulously drawn early masterpieces, and “Beauty and the Beast” (1991).
The film’s only major surprise arrives early on, as the picturesque London of the original has been rudely shaken out of its post-Victorian slumber by World War II.
Wendy has grown into middle age and is saddened that her daughter Jane, hardened by the Nazi blitzkrieg, no longer believes in fairies. One can almost visualize the words “enter Peter Pan” written into this part of the script.
Apart from replacing Wendy with Jane as the film’s central female character – she is abducted by Captain Hook and as the title suggests, is taken back to the land of enchantment – the film is tailored so closely to the original “Peter Pan” that its plot should ring a bell even for those who haven’t seen the film since childhood.
Pan once more resolves to make his new English squeeze a den mother to the Lost Boys, Hook again plots to have Pan destroyed and the marine life of Neverland wait patiently for their chance to partake of another of Hook’s limbs.
Ordinarily, a sequel which has nothing much to offer except a second helping of the same characters and situations is in trouble.
It is to the credit of the James Barrie play upon which the “Pan” films are based, to its timeless themes and intrinsically entertaining characters, that such a perfunctory follow-up is still so much fun to watch.
The action is as breathless as you remember it. The swashbuckling, while bloodless, continues to thrill young audiences and the flying scenes haven’t lost their romantic grandeur. A particularly memorable scene has Hook’s giant ship soaring through the skies over London, splitting a fleet of Hitler’s prized Luftwaffe in half like a flock of birds.
Best of all, “Return to Neverland” retains the prankish humor of the original “Peter Pan,” which is quite a welcome change of pace from the serious-message mentality of so many recent Disney epics.
The buffoonery of the Lost Boys is hysterical and the henchman Sneed – who may well be the father they are lost to – makes a wonderful twit. Still, the funniest scenes are once again those involving Hook. Touching and hilarious in equal measure, never has a villain managed to remain so pompous in spite of so much failure.
This is crucial to the success of the “Pan” series. Both the current film and its predecessor wow audiences with larger than life characters while, on the other hand, endearing the characters to the audience by implanting in the them so many of the flaws we find in ourselves.
All of the heroes in “Peter Pan” can fly. What makes the story timeless is that, like the children who adore them, each is a fibber, a fumbler and a bumbler too.
