Pan (2015)

Yesterday we watched the premier for Pan, a new take on the classic fairy tale of Peter Pan.

This movie boasts many big names like Hugh Jackman, Emma Stone and Amanda Seyfried, and of them all Hugh Jackman is truly amazing as Blackbeard. He struts around and is ruthlessly villainous with a taste for after-his-time Nirvana, the major source of humor in this movie. Perhaps the best parts were to see him putting up with his ignorant crew with sassy impatience. Levi Miller, who plays Pan, is a fantastic actor who is tasked with the burden of carrying the whole movie. He does so with his boyish charm and soulful eyes (really, how much bluer can those eyes get) and sells his role extremely well.

The plot is less about Peter Pan stealing children and more of how he was stolen and 'returned' to Neverland. He finds out his destiny through a prophecy and the movie revolves around him, the unlikely child hero, defeating the big bad (bald) villain. In terms of enjoyment, this movie was highly enjoyable despite being riddled with plot holes. Much of the elements of awe stems from the particularly dense intertextuality of the film.

Fans of Hook starring Robin Williams or even the Disney cartoon Peter Pan would probably be disappointed at this movie and how it rushes through the plot despite a great chance to explore more of the lore and world. I don't appreciate how Tiger Lily was white-washed, but the costume and make-up artist definitely did a fantastic job on designing her character. The Tribe was a symphony of colors and sights and a giant melting pot of cultures. There are hints of Hindu, Chinese, Aboriginal Australian culture, to name a few obvious ones. It was a marvelous job by the team designing the set and costumes for this particular aspect. What I really disliked was how the film absolutely glossed over the mermaids and their story. The very conveniently explanation of the mermaid's "water charged with memories" was simply too ridiculous for my disbelief to be suspended even momentarily.

Pan caters to the almost grown-up millennials that are still have protective of their childhood and Disney in particular. There are many references to previous Disney movies. Blackbeard's line "I am surrounded by imbeciles." is almost a direct quote from The Lion King when Scar famously claims that he "is surrounded by idiots".

When Blackbeard loses his hair (spoiler!) he touches his head, much like how Hades does after his hair is blown out by Pegasus in Hercules.

These are only certain examples that I caught, but they are fun easter eggs to hunt throughout the movie.

Sure the film has some pretty bad moments, but overall it was a fun and enjoyable movie if you're not too critical about everything. The colors and visuals were very well done, and though the film has heavy CG, it doesn't took terrible with 3D. (Though I'd imagine it would look very fake in 2D.) Pan is a pleasant movie that I'm sure will be followed up by sequels.