After “Mulan”, “Pinocchio” and “Cruella”, the next live-action remake of a true Disney classic starts today: But “Peter Pan & Wendy” you can not see in theaters, instead, the film comes directly as an exclusive title to Disney+.
The time of Disney live-action remakes is far from over. While the “Arielle” remake awaits us in theaters, another remake of a true animation classic, “Peter Pan & Wendy,” launches today, April 28, 2023, on Disney+.
The character imagined by J. M. Barrie, who has declared war on adulthood and Captain Hook in Neverland, has already been adapted quite a few times for film, television and theater. In addition to the Disney animated classic, which became one of the studio’s biggest hits in 1953, films such as Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” and the anime series “Peter Pan” (which is even known as “Peter Pan and Wendy” in the English version) by the Japanese studio Nippon Animation have contributed to the fact that the figure of the flying boy is now firmly etched in our cultural memory.
AND THAT’S WHAT IT’S ABOUT IN “PETER PAN & WENDY “
After Joe Wright last tried his hand at a big-budget adaptation of the material with the less-than-successful “Pan,” Disney is now venturing to remake the classic. Peter Pan & Wendy” is about young Wendy (Ever Anderson), who is afraid to leave her sheltered home. It’s not until she meets Peter Pan (Alexander Molony), an extraordinary boy with magical powers who refuses to grow up, that everything changes.
Together with her brothers and the little fairy Tink, she sets off for the magical realm of Neverland, where children never seem to grow up and time has magically come to a standstill. Here they also make acquaintance with the nasty pirate captain Hook (Jude Law), who has sworn eternal revenge after an unpleasant encounter with Peter Pan, the flying adventurer…
“PETER PAN & WENDY”: VERY CLOSE TO THE PRESENT
Even the first trailers make it clear that “Peter Pan & Wendy” seems to be based quite closely at its core on the now 70 (!) year old animated Disney adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s famous “Peter Pan” novel – even some of the costume designs seem to have been taken directly from the animation classic.
This is also confirmed by our author Sidney Schering in his review – although this seems to be one of the weaknesses of the remake, as “Peter Pan & Wendy” is torn between director David Lowery’s (“The Green Knight”) own template interpretation and a clumsy imitation of the world-famous “Peter Pan” animated film from 1953, which repeatedly robs the film of its magical lightness.
You can find out for yourself how the latest Disney adaptation fares in direct comparison with its role model starting today at Disney+.
