Pan Review
PG: Fantasy Action Violence, Language and Some Thematic Material
Warner Bros Pictures, RatPac Entertainment
1 hr 51 Minutes
Cast: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara, Garrett Hendlund, Cara Delevingne, Nonso Anozie,, with Amanda Seyfried, and Adeel Akhar
Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during my adolescence. Outdated language might be seen in these old posts. Since then, my thoughts and values have grown. This review is being presented as they were originally written, grammatical errors and typos and all. Because to do otherwise would be that same as claiming these flaws has never existed.
BACKSTORY: Sunday October 4th I went to the New York premiere of Pan at 11 in the morning. That's it, I really didn't care enough to try to take a picture with anybody. I saw Liev Schreiber but he was with his family so that would be rude. Plus....he scares the shit out of me. Out of all premieres I went to, this was the most out of place I felt cause I wasn't really feeling this movie.
STORYLINE: Supposing to be an origin story 12-year-old orphan Peter is spirited away to the magical world of Neverland, where he finds both fun and dangers, and ultimately discovers his destiny -- to become the hero who will be forever known as Peter Pan.
3D: It's pretty disappointing that this year alone all the middle of the road films are amazing in 3D. Pixels was great to view in 3D, but....its not a good film, and Pan the exact same. As far as experiencing a regular family film in the third dimension, Pan delivers on the 3D spectacle that truly makes you feel like that you are in Neverland. There are constant sequences of things flying that pops out of the screen that tries to reach you than vice versa. When you take off your glasses you really see the effort that was made to make the 3D conversion exemplary. Sad I can't say the same thing about the movie.
REVIEW: People really like Peter Pan. Not every film incarnation of it are successful. Personally I wasn't so fond of the Disney 1950s Peter Pan, because the hero was a total dick and was offensive as fuck. The 2003 Peter Pan is my muse because it was charming and creative. Now we have visual director Joe Wright making his first family film being the origin story Pan. I'm just gonna come out and say it, as beautiful as the film is it's really bad. For an origin story thats supposed to answer a lot of questions this does a great job making us question more than the film is supposed to answer. What Pan really suffers from is just bad casting, weak screenplay and most of all inconsistency. The film has a strong first act where the film takes place in the 1940s where we see Peter and his best friend in the orphanage being mischievous and clever, but once we get to Blackbeard's pirate ship kidnapping the children shit starts to confusing. The film starts to get more random as it progresses where first the sisters in the orphanage have some sort of deal with the pirates, then you have women in a war room being commanders during WWII, and THEN we get to Neverland where the film gets worse. Unless your name is Baz Lurhman if you are gonna make a period piece don't try to give us a modern day musical moment that makes no sense. Once you get to Neverland they introduced Blackbeard by singing Smells Like Teen Spirit then later they sing Blitzkrieg Bop. Hugh Jackman and newcomer Levi Miller are both exceptional in the film, but both Rooney Mara and Garrett Hendlund are both misplaced here. Though they neutered Peter's character once he gets to Neverland and is whiny most of the way through, Miller gives a good performance where you actually do feel for him at times. Hendlund is good as an Indiana Jonesish character but there is no way in hell he's Captain Hook. He's putting on some voice that's nowhere near like Hook at all. Christopher Walken is more of a Captain Hook than him. He does have charm and the scenes he share with Peter is cute. Tiger Lily is whitewashed for sure, but what makes it worse is that she is supposed to be Native and the people in her tribe are either Black, Native, Asian, Indian. Pretty much the Natives are a bunch of international people AND IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE! There is even a really forced romance between Lily and Hook where it's just uncomfortable to sit through. There's a lot of great visuals and action sequences in the movie, but by the time the third act comes around you see the overuse of CG everywhere to a place you can tell a lot of green screen was used. With prequels there is an abundant amount of teasing for the story that we know, but where this ends teases a sequel instead of just leading to Peter Pan.
LAST STATEMENT: The 3D, CG, production design, and even the action sequence are amazing to look at, but if you want to be a origin story don't make the audience question more than what you're supposed to answer by spoon feeding us a weak story and miscasted actors as the characters we know and love. Pan is just a film that's 100%
Rating: 2/5 | 41%
Super Scene: Fairy Ex Machina
