Peter Pan – Eclecticism

I’ve been looking forward to the new film version of Peter Pan ever since I stumbled across the trailer in mid-November. Kalyx just got to see it, and her writeup just makes me want to see it more…

This was the best adaptation that I have seen. Peter Pan has always rubbed me the wrong way. I saw the musical as a child and the Disney film, and found the music annoying, and just nothing overly interesting about the story except for Hook and the Crocodile. Well, the version in theaters currently is so not the Disney classic. There are no songs and the story adds so much depth to the characters. This is a darker and more complex Peter Pan.

[…]

The elements of the Disney classic, which is the version of the story I am most familiar with are all there. But this version puts the pieces together making sense of the myth. It doesn’t shy away from the erotic nature of the Peter Pan story and certainly does not avoid the real issues of childhood stirring within. We understand Peter’s attraction to Wendy is not that of a boy, but the stirrings of adolescence and the jealousy of Tinker Bell, makes sense in this context. We also see Wendy’s eventual welcoming of adulthood after her own recognition of Peter’s shortcoming, essentially that he is a boy that can never grow up.

[…]

…this film feels a deep grief for Peter, for the never ending cycles of games and adventures that will always leave no real mark or impression, as he is incapable of growth. This is a fairy tale that welcomes adulthood while grieving the loss of play. And this film does not shy away from allow Peter Pan to be tragic figure.

This is truly a lovely telling of the classic tale.

I’m so looking forward to this, and thankfully, I don’t have to wait much longer — Prairie and I have plans to see it New Years day.

Second star to the right, and straight on ’til morning…

Quick notice of a couple trailers worth checking out (at least, in my world they’re worth checking out):

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban: On the insanely unlikely chance you don’t know, this is the third film in the Harry Potter series, adapted from the book of the same name. First impressions: Michael Gambon as Dumbledore seems to both look and sound right (a good thing, I was a little worried about the switch in actors). What’s up with Draco’s new hairstyle? I’m not sure if I like it or not. Gary Oldman looks great as Sirius Black. Our first glimpse of the Dementors, and they look nicely creepy. Overall, I’m looking forward to it — each sucessive book has been getting darker, and it appears that they’re not afraid to let the movies do the same.

Peter Pan: I’d not even heard of this one, until I found it linked from the Harry Potter fan site The Leaky Cauldron (Cpt. Hook is played by Jason Isaccs, who played Lucius Malfoy in HPatCoS). This one looks quite interesting — it appears that the people making it are aiming to do their best to capture J.M. Barrie’s book on film as closely as possible. Wendy isn’t “classically” cute, but I think she looks perfect — like a real girl. Isaacs looks like he’s having a blast as Cpt. Hook, and the mermaids look downright creepy! There are two trailers available on the website, I’d suggest grabbing the one listed as “Trailer #1” first — while the “New Trailer!” shows more of the story, the quality is much worse, and the first trailer gives a much better idea of the look of the film.

Peter Pan…soon!

Trailers: Harry Potter, Peter Pan