I really had high expectations for the movie Pan because of my love for the story and the iconic characters of Neverland. I was hoping to get that magical, heroic feel when watching this adaptation of one of the most beloved children’s stories, but I got nothing but a predictable plot that never took off. I expected the film to tell the origin story of how Hook became Peter’s enemy, but it focused instead on the defeat of Blackbeard, an original character that I couldn’t have cared less about.
The movie starts off with a woman running through London with a baby in her hands. It is revealed that she is Peter’s mother (Amanda Seyfried) and is dropping her son off at an all boys orphanage. 12 years later, Peter (Levi Miller) spends his time trying to find his mother and being bullied by the nasty nuns that run the orphanage he stays in. One night, when the boys are sleeping in bed, the nuns help the pirates kidnap the orphans. In the next scene, we are taken to a mine where men dig for Pixie Dust for the loathsome Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) and the boys who are kidnapped are forced to assist.
Peter meets Hook (Garrett Hedlund), and at first Hook is standoffish, claiming that they are not friends and he wants nothing else to do with him. Later, Peter finds Pixie Dust only to have it ripped from his hands by another miner, and a fight ensues that results in Peter having to walk the plank. Blackbeard kicks Peter off, only to discover that the young boy can fly. Hook is amazed, and sees Peter’s flying as a way to escape the island. He rescues Peter and they make their escape to a forest where they spot a tribe who takes them in—first as enemies, and then as friends. Here, they plan to make their attack on Blackbeard to get rid of him once and for all with the help of Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara).
There were many actors and actresses who contributed to the making of the film, some being more prestigious than others. However, just because they were prestigious didn’t necessarily make them the most talented. The acting was not terrible overall, but there also weren’t enough sparks in the movie to make the performances shine.
Miller did a satisfactory job in playing Peter Pan, but his acting was often rudimentary and he seemed to be trying too hard to make Peter be adventurous. I’ve seen many portrayals of Peter Pan throughout the years, and he certainly was not one of my favorites.
Hedlund did a great job portraying a different kind of Hook that we are not use to seeing. In this adaptation, he was Peter’s friend as opposed to his enemy. The only complaint I had was his voice. His fake, rustic voice was often annoying and occasionally difficult to take seriously.
There was nothing really special about Mara’s portrayal of Tiger Lily; she didn’t seem to take any risks that would make her character stand out. I feel she was disconnected from her character, and action scenes involving Tiger Lily felt very slow.
The only one I can truly say did an outstanding job was Jackman. First off, he was unrecognizable in this role, and he took a risk in portraying a newly invented character in the Neverland world. His acting was a step above the rest, and the film might have been better if the rest of the cast could have matched his performance.
This movie is not worth seeing in 3D, for there is hardly any magical scenery that people would imagine exists in Neverland. The CGI was not believable and looked very cheesy. As a whole, Pan is not even worth stepping in the theaters to see; it’s one of those movies that you should wait to watch on Netflix or rent from iTunes. My overall opinion of this movie is that it was satisfactory but did not live up to its potential.
IMAGES TAKEN from themovies.co.za and blogs.indiewire.com
