RETURN TO NEVER LAND

Animation with characters who look familiar and feel like they're from an Afterschool Special...

By Abbie Bernstein     February 15, 2002

RETURN TO NEVER LAND is a mostly harmless exploitation of viewer fondness for the original 1953 Walt Disney Pictures animated PETER PAN, adapted from Sir James M. Barrie's fantasy novel. Although ostensibly aimed at children, Barrie's book is surprisingly dark, a quality which is (unsurprisingly) greatly muted in the first movie. Darkness is largely absent here as well, although the filmmakers have made the "real" world much scarier than Never Land itself, so that our heroine's sojourn in the magical realm is less an adventure than a respite from her troubles at home.

RETURN TO NEVER LAND is set during the WWII London blitz. Peter Pan's erstwhile companion Wendy has grown up, but she has never forgotten her days with the Peter and the Lost Boys. Wendy tells stories of Peter to her very young son Danny, who eats up every word, and daughter Jane, who has become a premature grown-up with no time for fantasy. Jane is forced to face unreality when Captain Hook flies his pirate ship through the skies over England, intending to kidnap Wendy as bait for a trap for Peter. Of course, Hook gets Jane instead (being from Never Land, it doesn't occur to him that Wendy might have grown up) and whisks her away. Peter flies to the rescue and then wonders what to do with this odd, stubborn girl who refuses to enjoy flight or believe in fairies.

Under the

direction of Robin Budd, RETURN TO NEVER LAND has some delightful visual grace notes, including the mood-setting opening in which we glimpse profiles of the characters in cloud shapes and the genuinely exciting appearance of the pirate ship over the staid city houses. The returning characters Peter, Hook, Smee are all drawn to be entirely faithful to their 1953 selves, with Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett doing heroic jobs in reproducing the voices of, respectively, Hook and Smee.

The script by Temple Mathews has a solid structure, undermined only by its unswerving determination to be good for young audiences. The message that children should be encouraged to develop their imaginations and not be too weighed down with premature adult responsibilities is perfectly sound, but RETURN makes its point so schematically and repeatedly (we know exactly where the film is going before we ever see the pirate ship) that it gets a bit ham-fisted. The Never Land adventure itself is a bit on the tame side, although there's enough comical peril courtesy of Hook and a giant orange octopus to satisfy most members of the movie's target demographic.

Songs are a mixed bag, with two decent pop ballads by Jonatha Brooke (an Alanis Morrisette sound-alike), a humorously incongruous cover of "Do You Believe in Magic" by BBMAK, a true-to-the-old-spirit ditty for Smee called "Here We Go With Another Plan" and an forgettable but at-home team spirit number, "So To Be One of Us" by They Might Be Giants, that fills the "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" slot.

RETURN TO NEVER LAND doesn't violate or cheapen its predecessor, although it doesn't add anything to our appreciation of the story. It seems to exist primarily for undemanding youngsters who loved the first film and want something that looks and sounds like more of the same.

RETURN TO NEVER LAND

Grade: B-

Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release

Rated: G

Voices: Harriet Owen, Blayne Weaver, Corey Burton, Jeff Bennett, Kath Soucie, Roger Rees

Writer: Temple Mathews, based on characters by James M. Barrie

Director: Robin Budd

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures