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63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a great kids movie - was it really made by Disney?, February 24, 2003
This review is from: Return to Never Land (DVD)
I have three children - ages 6, 4 and 2. I will be reviewing this movie from their perspective, not that of an adults. They really enjoyed the movie. Since they are not professional cartoonist, they did not care about the quality of the drawings. If anything, the 'old style' cartoon movie (similar to the first Peter Pan) kept the feel of the first movie. If they had used too many computer graphics, it would not have flowed well from the first movie. My children also liked the story. It was exciting, but not scary - even for the youngest. Each of the characters was reasonably developed, although Jane is the focus of the movie. She is Wendy's daughter, and Peter gets a supporting role in the plot. Hook is back and is mean without being frightening. Even the octopus, Hook's tormentor, is pretty tame. As for the quality of the music, my kids liked it and even asked for the soundtrack. (It is OK, but mostly instrumental takes from the movie. There are three good songs on it though...) Finally, some reviewers have critiqued the voices and complained they are not exact matches for the first Peter Pan. If you know him personally, then you might have a complaint. You have also grown-up way too much to ever enjoy this movie. (Go see the Exorcist or something!) Unless you have gone to bed every night since the 50's listening to Peter, you will not notice anything different on the voices. From a child's perspective, you won't be thinking of such things anyway. The story deals with typical Neverland topics: growing up, the pressures of being a kid, and the battle between carefree youth and grumpy people. By the way, this is all done without making adults or parents out to be the bad guys. The pace of the movie is great, keeping the kid's interest and being long enough to take them on a meaningful adventure without exhausting their attention span. The best part of the movie is the end when Peter takes the kids home and is reunited with Wendy. It is a great scene and one that brings back memories of the first movie's magic to both young and old. I know my kids loved it. I thought this movie did not strike me as a lot of Disney movies do these days - shallow, trashy and money driven. This is a 1950's style Disney film, not the crud they also release these days with cussing, stupid adults and not too subtle adult themes. My kids thought this movie was great and a real clean story. Appreciate a kid's movie through their eyes, not an adult's, and you will escape to Neverland with your children enjoying the trip along the way!
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Content not included, June 17, 2002
This review is from: Return to Never Land (DVD)
There have been numerous Peter Pan movies, several of which take place AFTER the original story ("Hook" being the best rendition so far). However, Disney, with it's Direct to video roll, for some odd reason, decided to put this one on the big screen! As an animator myself i can honestly say that this is far below disney's usual standard. The animaton is stiff and akward. The voices of the characters are not even remotely close to the original (especially the lost boys) and Peter Pan himself comes across as nothing more than a brat without his charm that has made him such a beloved icon. Disney is also 'getting with the times' and instead of confrunting and trying to debunk the horrible stereotyped "injuns," the indian camp looks more like they were wiped out and aren't even mentioned in the movie, just to be safe. As for the story, it had a lot going for it. The material was all there, it's just a shame the writers just took whatever came by first. Jane is non-empathetic, and her transition from wanting to grow up to being a kid is very downplayed. This film is much more lighter than the original Peter Pan which was rather dark in places. The worse that happens in this is Peter Pan is thrown 5 feet to the deck of a ship. ow. I must give them credit though for the ending. Peter and Wendy's reuniting was something i thought they wouldn't even bother with because it was too dissapointing, but they were somehow able to put a light spin on it. good job disney! at least you're not completely out of ideas yet! Granted kids will enjoy it for there is enough potty humor to keep them entertained, but parents might suffer seeing their beloved childhood memories dashed into bits.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I thought this would be junky..., August 13, 2003
This review is from: Return to Never Land (DVD)
...but it is actually very nice! I usually hate Disney sequels because they are cheesy and ruin the first film. We usually stay away from movies that say on the cover, "All new feature-length adventure", because that's a sure sign of a cheapo sequel. That's what I was expecting when we got this movie, but I was impressed with the computer animation, the soundtrack and with the way Disney tried hard to get actors that sounded very much like the ones in the first movie. The one thing I didn't like though was the lack of indians! They didn't even mention the word "indian". Sure, they showed the camp, but it was as empty as a ghost town. Oh well. This is a good movie for the younger group, although the adults will probably enjoy it as well.
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