Sooo, if you follow me on instagram, you might already know that I saw the movie Pan a couple of weekends back. If you didn't know already, then now you know :) And as it was such a magical experience, I thought it appropriate to dedicate a blog post about it.
Pan
** spoiler free** 2015
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Levi Miller, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried, Cara Delevingne ...
Lenght: 111min= 1h51min
Genre: Adventure, fantasy and family
12 year old orphan Peter gets taken away by the pirate crew of captain Blackbeard and ends up in Neverland. Rather than flying around like he does in the Disney version, he has to work in the mines in search of Fairy Dust. There he gets acquainted with James Hook and together they find a way to escape the thight grip of Blackbeard and they flee into the wilderniss of Neverland where they have an encounter with the locals. And that's all I'll say about the plot, 'cause I don't want to spoil anything now do I?
The story of Peter Pan written by J.M. Barrie is probably the most well know story in the world. We've heard countless different variations of the same tale. Told by Disney, by Marc Forster in Finding Neverland, by P.J. Hogan in Peter Pan, etc.
Joe Wright, known for Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, the Soloist and Atonment, takes on his first family film and a family film that is. Fairy Dust flies off the big screen, colours explode, a soundtrack to write home about and an adorable, strong headed, confused Peter who is afraid to fail and surprises nobody more than himself by flying over Neverland.
Part of the beginning of the film takes place during WWII. England is at war and food is scarce. The orphan little boys definitely see it on their plates and feel it in their tummies. Children disappear in the middle of the night, never to return. The situation looks very poor for the boys at the orphanage. Until one night, pirates from captain Blackbeard sweep in, select a couple of kids and take them away on a flying ship. The shots of that majestic flying ship over the Big Ben and St Paul's Cathedral in the middle of night was enough to give me goosebumps. The British Army Air Corps is in complete confusion. During that sequence I thought it perfectly plausible that those actions were based on true history.
The director made an interesting choice regarding soundtrack. I don't think anyone would use 'Nirvana' and 'family movie' in one sentence. Well, Joe did. The Ramones can be added to that sentence as well x) Just when you think this will be an all 'magic and fluffy' type of movie, they throw this at you.
Hook (Garrett Hedlund) is a funny yet egoistic character, who turns out not to be exactly that. Hedlund portrays him with a little too much drama, little too much expression, but that is exactly what works here. If he had played it down, I don't think he's character would have been as believable. There is some tension between him and Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara), but thank god they don't kiss. Tiger Lily, despite the whole she-not-a-native discussion, is a confident, fierce but kind hearted woman who fights for what she believes in. Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) has one or two funny punch lines that only the grown ups will get. He is however the perfect villain for this story. And Peter (Levi Miller) is struggling to find out who he is, what is expected of him and is scared of failing. A feeling we can all relate to I guess. I think we can expect great things from Miller. You might want to keep an eye on that one :)
One thing that really caught my eye, is that it is a very very colorful movie. Even when it's not so colour, it's still very colourful. If that makes any sense?
Although I don't think the movie is as approachable for kids as the Disney version is, it's a perfect family film. Some cheeky punch lines and soundtracks for the grown ups and a colourful and playful spectacle for the little ones and an overall 1hour 51minutes well spent.
They leave the ending open, suggesting there might be a sequel. A story between this 'origin' story where Peter arrives in Neverland and the 'original' story where the Darlings arrive on the scene. Who knows, we might have another Pan movie coming to us in 2018....
As per usual, below the trailer, a clip and an interview, just so you can get a first taste :)
Trailer
Clips
Interview
If you've decided to see Pan as well, let me know! I'd love to hear your opinion :)
As always, thanks for reading!
xo - Sara
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