Pan
Starring Levi Miller, Hugh Jackman
Directed by Joe Wright
Near-disastrous box office earnings aside, Joe Wright’s revision of the classic Peter Pan tale may not have been completely necessary but it does offer enough whimsical charm to give the film a passing grade.
Newcomer Levi Miller takes the lead in Pan, playing a young boy who was mysteriously deserted by his mother and raised in a Dickensian orphanage, only to be whisked away to Neverland one night by the villainous Blackbeard (a striking Hugh Jackman) and his band of cronies in their flying pirate ship. Slaves toiling in a pixie dust mine inexplicably chant Nirvana and Ramones songs, Captain Hook (a scenery-chewing Garrett Hedlund) actually befriends Peter, and some bizarre Avatar-esque bone birds with animated eyes all add to the visual and thematic insanity.
Not surprisingly, the movie relies on millions of dollars in visual effects and, though most of the scenery is dreamlike and breathtaking, some of Peter’s flying sequences have a shoddy, cartoonish sheen. And yet, through it all, Wright manages to keep the crazy train rolling. Adult-oriented films like Pride and Prejudice and Atonement put him on the map so it’s refreshing to see the director tackle some family fare.
Pan contains a lot of ideas and they don’t all work but the attention to detail in the production design and costume departments is remarkable.
The performances are also convincing, with Miller and Jackman proving effective. Pan is certainly flawed but one could argue its bold approach is admirable, even if the gamble won’t pay off.
