Pan

 PAN

 
Director : Joe Wright
Year : 2015
Genre : Fantasy
Rating : *1/2

 

While many films have tried to expand on the classic story of the boy who would never grow up, Joe Wright's mega-budget prequel 'Pan' takes J.M Barrie's most beloved tale back to the very start and for the first time, explores how and why Peter became the saviour of Neverland. Starring the incredibly likable Levi Miller as the titular protagonist, the movie sees the young Peter as a WW2 refugee who one night, along with his friends, is kidnapped by pirates and taken to the magical world of Neverland to work in the pixie-dust (or as they dub it 'pixum') mines for Hugh Jackman's ridiculously hammy Blackbeard. 

While Wright's fluid direction does at times make for some pleasant imagery and some of the performances are delightfully camp, 'Pan' falls flat on it's face in almost every other aspect. Rooney Mara is barely given anything to do as a pom-pom covered Tiger Lily, Garrett Hedlund is downright dreadful as a Jack Nicholson-esque James (crucially not Captain) Hook and Jason Fuch's wobbly script lacks any of the wonder of previous Peter Pan adaptations - replacing any sense of magic with awkward one-liners and unconcievably innappropriate a capella renditions of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop. Even the CGI is off - beautiful to look at but devoid of any believability whatsoever. Not since Sam Raimi's equally vapid fantasy prequel 'Oz : The Great & Powerful' has computer graphics been used to such obvious and detrimentally fake effect.

Dropping like a lead balloon in the States and faring not much better here either, 'Pan' is a complete waste of many considerable talents and a shameful waste of a hell of a lot of money. Levi Miller shows great promise and Hugh Jackman's flamboyant Blackbeard is very enjoyable to watch but sadly, their fine performances are not enough to even consider recommending this dull, unconvincing and sometimes tonally skewy mess.