Now on to the most well-known version of this book, also in case anyone is wondering, I will not be reviewing the sequel, Peter Pan Return to Neverland or the live-action Disney remake of Peter Pan. The first one is because there is very little connection to the book other than the character. For the second one, I believe that Disney has already had its chance. Without further ado, shall we begin?

“In this Disney animated film, Wendy (Kathryn Beaumont) and her two brothers are amazed when a magical boy named Peter Pan (Bobby Driscoll) flies into their bedroom, supposedly in pursuit of his rebellious shadow. He and his fairy friend, Tinkerbell, come from a far-off place called Neverland, where children stay perpetually young. Enchanted, the kids follow him back. But when Pan’s nemesis, the pirate Captain Hook (Hans Conried), causes trouble, the kids begin to miss their old life.”

This movie evoked a memory from my childhood. Although there are some things that I had hang-ups. Which I will explain further on.

I have 4 thoughts that I would like to talk about.

Firstly, this is something that I have stuck in my brain. In the book, Peter Pan is described as wearing an outfit sewn from skeleton leaves, and the Lost Boys wore clothes made from the fur of bears. As you can see from the photos in my Peter Pan review, that was the first version of Peter Pan I had ever seen, so seeing how this looks different got under my skin. Now looking back, I can understand why Peter looks like he is wearing a green leotard because drawing that many leaves would be a pain in the butt. But why, why does it look like the Lost Boys are wearing footie pajamas? I know this is pointless, but really.

Secondly, the way that Hook tries to kill Peter. The fact that he tricks Tinker Bell into showing him where Peter’s home is, this choice is definitely more cinematic than Hook accidentally sitting on the Lost Boys’ chimney. What I do find interesting is the reason why Hook uses a bomb instead of poison. This reason is that in the play Peter Pan asks the audience to clap and say that they believe in fairies. This continues when the play gets made into a book. Apparently, Walt Disney didn’t think they could get children to clap in the cinemas. The reason I find this interesting is because of the difference between the play and the movie. Especially because even though there are some movies that will break the 4^th wall, there are very few to this day that expect audience participation.

Thirdly, the Darlings, and the fact that everything happens in a handful of hours. This means that Mr. Darling does not have a chance to regret his actions. This is probably why they cut out the idea of the lost boys asking to get adopted by the Darlings. After all, if Mr. and Mrs. Darling don’t spend weeks to months missing their children, they probably won’t accept 6 extra boys.

Fourthly, why is there such an insistence on keeping their word? This is shown in two different ways. Firstly, the fact that when Hook tricks Tinker Bell, she makes him promise not to touch him, and he keeps his word by sending Peter a bomb. Secondly, in the final fight, Hook gets Peter to give his word that Peter will not fly in an attempt to handicap him. My main question is why does their word matter to either of them? While yes, Hook is obsessed with good form, he is still a pirate which shouldn’t matter to him. And on Peter’s side, who taught this boy about the honor of keeping your word?

Anyway, thank you for reading this for me. And until next time.

Happy reading to all and to all a good night.