PAN is a mixed take on a Peter Pan origin story.  Some things the story and reimagining of the Peter Pan story gets it right, but sometimes it gets its wrong (like starting Peter off in an orphanage run by clichéd evil nuns during World War 2).  The idea of Captain James Hook starting off as Peter’s friend sounds interesting, but it could potentially fall flat (since we’re not likely to see a sequel because PAN bombed at the box office).  Peter quickly makes friends with the boastful liar James Hook (Garrett Hedlund) who is also a prisoner mining for Pixum (fairy dust) in Neverland, buts soon an escape leads Peter and Hook on a journey with Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) in pursuit (which leads to Hook flirting with Tigerlily (Rooney Mara who looks like Joe Wright muse Keira Knightley).  PAN is entertaining at times, but the story is all over and it holds back too much in hopes of the writer using it as a springboard for a trilogy or a series that will be unlikely to appear due to it being a big box office bomb.  Don’t get me started on them using a Nirvana song as the big song Blackbeard, his pirates, and the captive miners sing when Peter arrives in Neverland.  A Peter Pan origin story could have worked, but maybe it is better left not exploring his origins on how he came to Neverland and how he became enemies with Hook.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The feature audio commentary by director Joe Wright is more about the story and characters and the little details with very little giving info about how the movie was made.

 

NEVER GROW UP: THE LEGEND OF PAN- a brief history of the original Peter Pan on stage and novel as written by J.M. Barrie before the featurette launches into how the filmmakers are looking to make an origin story about Peter

THE BOY WHO WOULD BE PAN- all about the casting of the actor (Levi Miller) who would play Peter Pan and people singing praise about Levi as Peter.

THE SCOUNDRELS OF NEVERLAND- a featurette focusing on Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard and the other bad guys of the movie

WONDROUS REALMS- a brief fluff piece on the various places in Neverland

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: PAN is a flawed origin take on Peter Pan where the final product is a mixed bag and some things just don’t work. With its poor box office performance, it is unlikely that there will be a sequel to PAN- one of the big box office bombs of 2015.

 

This review is ©12-28-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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