The special effects of course are endless, but there is a method to their excess. The movie's not simply a riot of pretty pictures, but begins with a Neverland that seems overgrown and pungent -- more like Louisiana than Middle-earth. There is a vast, gloomy castle and all manner of paths into the darkness, but then scenes will turn as delicate as "A Midsummer Night's Dream." At a point when lesser films would be giving us swashbuckling by the numbers, Peter and Wendy dance in mid-air, emulating the fairy ballet.
As the film narrows into its crucial themes, we realize there are two: Wendy's desire to free Peter Pan from eternal boyhood, and Hook's envy of the affection they have for each other. It is no accident that the poison made of droplets from Hooks' red eye consists of envy, malice and disappointment.
Capt. Hook and John Darling are both played by Jason Isaacs, in a dual role made traditional by decades of holiday pantomimes; each character is short on qualities the other has in abundance. Hook is all gnash and bluster, while John Darling is so shy, he can hardly talk to himself in the mirror. Mrs. Darling (Olivia Williams), mother of Wendy and her two younger brothers, seems awfully composed during her long nights by the open window, waiting for her children to return, but maybe she has seen the earlier versions.
Wendy finds a role for herself in Neverland. It's touching, the way the Lost Boys so desperately want to be found, and crowd around Wendy, asking her to be their mother. (What does a mother do? "Tell us a story!") Later, when the Lost Boys join Wendy and her brothers John and Michael back home in their bedroom, they ask Mrs. Darling to be their mother, and she agrees, although when Smee (Richard Briers) arrives late and is motherless, the new character of Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) steps in joyfully.
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