Monday, April 17, 2023

A Look Back at Peter Pan (1953)

 


Peter Pan & Wendy will be arriving just before we know it, so let's look at the classic that started it all.





Peter Pan is a 1953 an animated adventure fantasy film based on J.M. Barries's 1904 play, Peter Pan, or the Boy Wouldn't Grow Up. It's also Disney's 14th animated feature film. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures. Peter Pan was written by Ted Sears, Erdman Penner, Bill Peet, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Milt Banta, and Ralph Wright and Bill Cottrell and directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Wilfred Jackson.





The story is after having a falling out with their parents, Wendy and her two brothers Michael and John want to never grow up. Later that night they meet Peter Pan after he was chasing his rebellious shadow, having hearing their problem, he convinces them to travel with him to Nederland. All seems fun, until the villainous Captain Hook and his crew are after them.








  • Negatives

I've don't have anything negative to say, so just keep moving forward.








  • Mix

Now I'm gonna drop a bit of a fun fact, Walt Disney wasn't a fan of the final product, because he thought Peter Pan's character was "cold". I don't agree with his wording, but I get where he was coming from. Peter isn't cold, but there are quite a few times when he's a cocky jerk. So with that it does get hard to like him as a character. But I think he's best moments do overshadow he's worst.








  • Positives

One of the many great things about the film is the pacing. This movie goes by very quick, but not to the point where you'll miss something or you felt like the movie needs to slow down.



Then there's the performances. The cast was spectacular. Bobby Driscoll will always remain as the pinnacle of what Peter Pan's voice (which makes it all the more tragic in how he died), and the Kathryn Beaumont, Paul Collins, and Tommy Luske as the Darling kids also did a really good, I was especially surprised with Tommy. He was only six when they making this movie, and he was quite the pro despite being so young. Then there's Hans Conried as Captain Hook. His performance was just perfect, no other way to describe it, it's perfect.



Speaking of Captain Hook....I love this character. While he still gets his more evil moments to showcase why he's the big bad, there was still room for the character to have bits of comedy. Especially when he's paired up with Mr. Smee, the Crocodile, or both. When he's with those characters, you get some great slapstick. So yeah, Captain Hook, complete scene stealer.



It's been a while since I watched this film, and after rewatching it, I think this is a really great adventure story for kids. It's got magic, pirates, indians, and far away lands. If they found a way to fit in cowboys, superheroes, robots, ninjas, and a dinosaur or two, it would've been perfect. In all seriousness, I truly believe this is a great adventure story that kids even today can enjoy. You knows, maybe after watching this, they'll explore and fall in love with other adventure stories.



The last thing I'll praise is the animation. Not only did it elevate the adventurous and magical tone of the film, but there's so many breathtaking moments too. I mean just look at this.




That's absolutely gorgeous! There's a lot of animation we have right now that doesn't even come close to beating that. And let me remind you, this came out in 1953.








I really enjoyed this film. It's wonderful and just a really fun movie. It definitely deserves to be one of Disney's many classics.








My final rating is, Great.








That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 20th, for my review of the newest Hulu original movie, Quasi. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

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