12-year old Peter is growing up in a bleak London orphanage during World War II. He and his friend Nibs notice that every so often a few boys go missing from their beds. One night they stay up to discover a mysterious ship floating overhead kidnapping the boys. Peter is snatched up and finds himself in Neverland as a slave to the evil Blackbeard. When he inadvertently finds some fairy dust, he is sentenced to walk the plank.
Blackbeard kicks him off the plank and Peter discovers he can fly. It seems he is the fulfillment of a prophecy that says he will save Neverland from evil and restore peace. He escapes with the help of Hook to a mysterious tribe led by Tiger Lily. When Blackbeard arrives it’s up to Peter to fulfill his potential and rid Neverland of evil once and for all.
Rating
Violence: Fantasy action
Sex: No
Language: No
The Peter Pan story has been told many ways in film, not only as an ode to the original 1904 play but as various sequels and prequels. Pan is the latter. It’s intended as an origin story and by the end you understand how Peter Pan comes to be. But the plot contains only a short story’s worth of material, not enough to carry a feature film.
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The real star here is the visual and auditory feast. Thanks to some terrific CGI, the action scenes defy belief and take the viewer on more of a ride than an adventure. I felt as though I was watching a theme park stunt show. You can’t always tell what’s going on but it is fun to experience it anyway. Any version of the Peter Pan canon will be child-oriented for sure but Pan is something that just won’t appeal to most adults. If you’re looking for mindless action or a good home theater demo, this film will fill the bill. For an engaging storyline however, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
The image is at reference level with amazing contrast, bright highlights and rich deep blacks. Color is stylistic with drab grays representing London, gritty earth tones for the mines and super-saturated hues for the tribal ceremonies and epic battle scenes. Detail in both live and computer-generated material is tack-sharp and super-clean. Blu-rays like this make it hard to imagine video looking any better than it does here.
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I enjoyed the Dolby Atmos encode in its TrueHD 7.1 form. Even with my 5.1 system, the surround envelope completely encompassed my room and created the illusion of a much larger space. The audio is mixed at an extremely high volume level and some viewers may need to click the dial down just a bit. My half-star ding concerns the dialog channel. While mostly good, it was overbalanced at times almost to the point of harshness. And during the first act, the children’s voices lacked definition and were difficult to understand.
Bonus features include a look at the film’s expanded Peter Pan universe, a short about the casting process, a backstory on Blackbeard and Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of him and audio commentary by director Joe Wright.
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It was certainly a challenge to remain patient trying to watch this - I made it just past the abduction scene where the cast starts singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It makes you wonder how films like this get completed without someone stepping in and crying "Wait, stop production - this is crap, everyone will hate it!" Lol - and too bad to have such a talent as Hugh Jackman chewing up the scenery - I truly believe he is one of the most talented actors ever.