Neverland
The 2011 mini-series "Neverland" directed by Nick Willing is probably the worst
piece of cr*p ever made about Peter Pan. It is so awful that I hardly know where
to begin.
The mini-series sounded so promising
with Rhys Ifans as Hook, Keira Knightley as Tinker Bell and Bob Hoskins
repeating his role as Smee from Spielberg's 1991 film "Hook", but boy was I in
for a disappointment! I bought the series on DVD and as the subtitle on the
cover was "The Legend of Peter Pan Begins", I expected to see something about
Peter's early years in Kensington Gardens. But no…instead I was presented with a
story about an orphan pickpocket Peter and his mentor Jimmy Hook who steal a
crystal ball and end up in a jungle with a power-mad female pirate Elizabeth
Bonny (Anna Friel) and a Native American tribe that protects tree spirits. You
see, fairies are no longer fairies, but tree spirits. And fairy dust is no
longer fairy dust, but mineral dust and Peter is no longer an ambivalent child
of death, but an innocent hero. In fact, there is nothing of the special Peter
Pan magic left in this story as it has been replaced with mainstream adventure
brutality aimed at a male audience.
Far the worst, though, is the
relationship between Hook and Peter (Charlie Rowe). It reminded me so much of
Fagin and The Artful Dodger that at times I actually thought I was watching a
remake of "Oliver Twist"! Not only is the father/son relationship between the
two characters SO wrong, but it also gets a little weird when it starts having
romantic overtones as Peter isn't quite happy when Elizabeth Bonny takes Hook as
her lover. All in all Elizabeth Bonny is a strange creation, who has nothing to
do in Neverland except ruin the story, but then again, Neverland itself is no
longer a make-believe land on Earth made up by Peter, but just some weird planet
that Peter hasn't created. All in all the story has only very little to do with
Peter Pan and instead it reminded me of not only "Oliver Twist" but also "The
Snow Queen", "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter".
I only have one thing left to say about
the "Neverland" mini-series and that is: stay away from it!
1 out of 5 stars: *
© Lise Lyng Falkenberg, 2013
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