Film review: Return to Never Land

Something familiar and, without any doubt, magical

They miss the crocodile. Or was it an alligator? There is a difference between those two, you know. But whatever it was, the first thing that came out of the mouths of movie-goers who went to watch Return to Never Land was wala na ang buwaya. The buwaya of the tale is the alligator or crocodile who made dinner out of the left hand of Captain Hook and gave the pirate his name and life-long neurosis. Although usually up to a lot of no good, Hook’s hand must have been really delicious because it made the crocodile or alligator the most famous stalker in all of literature. He follows Hook all the time and everywhere with beady eyes darting maliciously and large mouth agape for more of the pirate. To make things worse, he has swallowed a clock that keeps on running inside his tummy. This means his approach is heralded by an ominous tick-tock, tick-tock that drives Hook bonkers.

Captain Hook and the crocodile are two of the fun characters in the immortal tale of Peter Pan. Originally conceived as a play by Sir James Barrie in 1904, Peter Pan is a tale about a boy who refuses to grow up and spends all his days in Never Land where nobody ever grows old. One evening Peter takes three kids, a girl named Wendy and her two younger brothers with him to Never Land. There they join the Lost Boys and the fairy Tinkerbell in many adventures including battles with Captain Hook and his band of pirates. The children eventually return to their home in London but stay dreamy-eyed all their lives thinking of that magical place "second star to the right, straight on till morning."

The play Peter Pan later became a novel, a Broadway musical and an animated film feature for Disney in 1953. Given Disney’s incredible knack for merchandising, this film gave the world its most enduring version of Peter Pan. He is a boy of about 12, clad in a forest green shirt and matching leggings with a face caught in a cocky half-smile that reeked of mischief and a body bursting all over with boyish energy. This image plus characters like the Lost Boys, pirates, Indians and no prince and princess living happily ever after established Peter Pan as the Disney picture for boys. The story of Peter Pan appeals to children and grown-ups of both sexes but remember this was in the ’80s. Simba and Aladdin were not yet around. So when lined up alongside the other Disney flicks of the period, Snow White, Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, what else can Peter Pan be but the boys’ movie?

Putting a female spin to Peter Pan seems to be the premise behind the sequel titled Return to Never Land. The lead character this time around is Wendy’s daughter, Jane, a girl who once dreamt of becoming the first Lost Girl but who now eschews what she considers childish things in favor of reality. With the thought of using her as a bait in another bid to recover the treasure taken earlier by Peter, Hook mistakenly kidnaps Jane, thinking she is Wendy. This traps the girl in Never Land where she has to face up to certain things she’d much rather have nothing to do with like believing in fairies and learning how to fly. Thanks to Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, plus the still jealous Tink, Hook is once again given his comeuppance and Jane regains her belief in "faith, trust and pixie dust."

It is a testimony to the timeless appeal of Peter Pan that people still remember the movie and its characters after nearly 50 years since the release of the first Disney movie. It is nice to see little girls relating better to the story now that they have the spunky Jane to identify with. And after all those eye-popping computer generated images of Monsters, Inc., Ice Age and other animated films of these past few months, it is comforting to see Return to Never Land in all its simple, hand-drawn beauty. Of course, the fact that the camera angles and lighting are now more complicated and that the characters now move at a faster pace say that the picture got a lot of help from new technology. But you barely notice. What you have instead is something familiar and without doubt magical.

The people at Disney probably felt the same way. That must be the reason why although it is no landmark in the field of animation and that it is not likely to land an Academy nomination, Return to Never Land became that rare Disney sequel with a theatrical release. Sequels to The Little Mermaid, Lion King, Aladdin, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and others, all went straight to video. Peter Pan must be pleased as punch and just in case you failed to notice, may I remind you that he gets star-billing above the title, Peter Pan in Return to Never Land. Not bad for a boy who refuses to grow up.

Now, as far as the alligator or crocodile is concerned, he has been replaced with a giant squid also after Hook. I do not know if squids eat human prey but this enormous octopus also has enough gumption to go after the pirate and drive him nuts. The monster has no clock in his insides but his tentacles pop suction cups that leave unsightly marks and make the kind of noise that also sends Captain Hook climbing up the walls.