Pan

Fairies, pixie dust, flying, pirates, lost boys and Neverland have been the constant tropes of the Peter Pan myth since its first theatre performance in 1904. Numerous adaptations of the fairy-tale have become part of popular culture and increased the dream of the boy who will never grow up.

Joe Wright’s Pan creates a renewed world for the classic tale and uses its symbolism and themes to add a fresh element to the story. As the director said while introducing the film this morning: “This is the story of a boy learning how to overcome his fear.”
The fear of heights, ironically.

Starting off in a London orphanage during WWII, a setting reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Pan is the story of how and why Peter got to Neverland.
Peter is a 12-year-old orphan waiting for his mother to return for him, he has a best friend, Nibs, and a rebellious nature against the grown-ups around him, the extremely mean nuns. What the film manages to do in its first part is to use the different timeline to turn Peter Pan into an even more universal symbol of childhood and believing.

This new adventure is populated by some of the classic characters such as Tiger Lily, a yet-to-be-captain James Hook and Mr. Smee and new characters such as Captain Blackbeard, brilliantly played by Hugh Jackman.
Despite the film being mainly aimed at a children’s audience, compared to Spielberg’s Hook and Marc Foster’s Finding Neverland, it is accompanied by an exciting, and anachronistic, use of music and hints about Pan’s well-known story, such as the phrase: “Death is the greatest adventure.”
However, one does not need to be a child to be amazed at the sight of Neverland, the flying Jolly Roger, the well-coreographed fight scenes and the genuine performance of Levi Miller in the role of Peter.

A particularly favourite moment, for the adult audience especially, was the clever use of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” which created an uncanny musical moment reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby.

Warner Brothers’ premiere also included a magnificent reproduction of Neverland in Leicester Square Gardens comprehensive of a pirate ship and various activities for children and families, such as pirate hats and fairy wings.

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust,” wrote James Matthew Barrie. Pan proved, once more, that believing in all this can be an awfully big adventure.