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Return to Neverland
Return to Neverland êê Stars Rated G
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Reviewed by Shelley Cameron
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Lost in Space
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Directors:Robin Budd and Donovan Cook
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Sequel to the classic Disney animated 1953 version about a boy who refused to grow up. This time around it is Wendy's daughter Jane who journeys to Neverland and faces the ire of Captain Hook and his band of pirates. Her mother has kept a bit of her own childhood alive by frequently recounting to Jane and her little brother, Dan, tales of her adventures with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. Although it is no match for the marvelous original 1904 play by J. M. Barrie story, the current Disney animators carefully recreate the look of Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Hook, and some of the others we remember and love.
It is a more frightening scene that takes Jane to Neverland as she is kidnapped by Captain Hook from her London bedroom to lure Peter to his doom than the one where Peter lost his shadow and helpful little mother Wendy sews it back on for him. However, it is also a more feisty and fearless Jane than the girl Wendy was two generations earlier.
The World War II setting that has Jane's father off in the army does little to enhance the drama but does not hinder it either. On the eve before she and Dan are about to be shipped off to the safety of the English countryside during the blitz, Hook mistakes Jane for Wendy and whisks her aboard the Jolly Roger to Neverland. Once there she has her adventures with Peter and the Lost Boys to once again foil Hook, this time sought after by a giant octopus who presumably must have eaten the crocodile because it ticks like the clock that once warned Hook that the croc was near. Much of the rest is a new story but without the familiar Tiger Lily or the tribe of Indians who once co-habited the island. This lack luster but politically correct scenario will not exactly enthrall the adults in the audience, but the kids to whom this is fairly new will find it passable fun even if they are not exactly begging for more.
Tinkerbell's liberal use of pixiedust can't quite rescue this version but does help to retain some of the spirit. The original new score is mediocre although the closing tune Do You Believe In Magic from The Lovin' Spoonful is a nice touch that brings it together at the end.
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