Pan (2015)
Certified: PG
Duration: 111 minutes
Directed by: Joe Wright
Starring: Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Adeel Akhtar, Lewis MacDougall, Amanda Seyfried, Nonso Anozie, Jack Charles, Cara Delevingne, Na Tae-joo, Kathy Burke
KRS Releasing Ltd
Pan is a rebooting/reimagining of Peter Pan’s origin story.
Twelve-year-old Peter (Levi Miller) is an orphan who was abandoned by his mother Mary (Amanda Seyfried) when he was still a baby.
The film is set during World War II with air raids threatening to destroy the orphanage. Peter is good friends with Nibs (Lewis MacDougall) and they are both wary of Mother Barnabas (Kathy Burke).
In reality, the boys at the orphanage are being sold to pirates who come in the middle of the night, grab them from their beds and whisk them off to a magical land called Neverland.
One night it is Peter’s turn. He becomes the property of Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman), a terrifying pirate who runs a pixium-mining operation. Pixium is a substance that prevents ageing that fairies treasure and hide.
Peter manages to escape and starts looking for his mother as he believes that she is in Neverland. He finds help from a slave named James Hook (Garrett Hedlund) and mine supervisor Smee (Adeel Akhtar). The three are, however,captured by the inhabitants of Neverland, which is ruled by Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara), a warrior princess.
Peter learns that it is very much possible that he could be the Chosen One, the one to bring peace to Neverland and defeat Blackbeard. He also learns that while his mother was human, his father may have been a fairy prince.Meanwhile, Blackbeard is all set to get him and wants to tear Neverland down to find the fairies’ hidden domain since here there should be a humongous supply of pixium.
Children will be transported to Neverland and the rich and lush visuals
J. M. Barrie’s novel has found its way to the screen so many times and through so many different points of view that one wonders if anything new could be wrung out of this often told tale.
Director Joe Wright’s past work speaks volumes about him: Atonement, Anna Karenina, Hanna and Pride and Prejudice. Here he delivers an extremely polished and special effects-filled picture that will appeal mostly to a young audience who have not seen most adaptations of the fairy tale yet and who have been weaned on the recent Marvel superhero movies with which this film has an affinity in style and composition.
Children will be transported to Neverland and the rich and lush visuals brought to the screen. Meanwhile, for the accompanying adults who think they know the story well, think again as Wright’s version has more than its fair share of unusual deviations from the original plot.
The film’s pacing is at first slow and cautious but soon changes tack once the story shifts to Neverland. Here the resonance and vibrancy of the colours, the atmosphere and mood are really refreshing, bringing in such sequences as the pirates singing Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Miller convinces as Peter Pan as he is quite a resilient lad. Mara also stands out in her action figure kind of role.
Cara Delevingne, soon to be seen in the Suicide Squad, has a bit part as a mermaid which makes for a very unusual scene and adds to the outlandish and pixie-fuelled nature of Neverland.
Overall, the film is a Candy Rush equivalent as it is a special effects-driven movie with superhero influences that gives Peter Pan the chance to zoom around the screen one more time.