Review of Pan (2015) by Kyle T — 12 Jan 2016

Review: Pan.

Sometimes, I have to wonder if I am watching the same movie critics saw. Pan has been slammed by critics (and even by audiences-though a B+ Cinemascore isn't terrible). Those that like the film have deemed it a bit of a hot mess. I guess I can see where they are coming from. Pan is a very colorful film with lots of ideas thrown on the screen. A couple unique things may well take some viewers out of the movie. We're introduced to the pirates chanting the lyrics to Nirvana's "Teen Spirit", a song that won't exist for another seventy or eighty years following the story's timeline. The Never-birds are so cartoonish looking you'd swear they just took Kevin from Up and tossed him into the movie with no skin. When a "native" is killed they burst into a bright-colored powder (can't have too many dead bodies laying around-this is a family movie after all). And that's just a sampling of the weird stuff you'll find in Pan. Plus when the movie does ditch CGI in some scenes in favor of practical effects and sets, those sets look quite stage-playish. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a little distracting.

But so what if the movie's full of weird stuff-is it a good movie? In my opinion-yes. I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. I've often wondered about the origins of the Peter Pan character and this film gives decent explanations for how he came to be the character we all know from other film, book and play adaptations. I especially like the idea that he and Captain Hook were friends at one time. I'd love to see a sequel to this film that portrays how they became mortal enemies.

Director Joe Wright has always had an eye for old-timey European settings (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Anna Karenina), and Pan is no exception. The city streets and the run-down orphanage look authentic and really put us in an established time and place. Then of course we get to Neverland and all that is crushed by an island of colorful wonder. Credit must be given not only to Wright and screenwriter Jason Fuchs, but to editors William Hoy and Paul Tothill-at nearly two hours in length, the film flies by and never really lags. This makes Pan such a great film for families. The kids won't get bored and the parents will enjoy the deeper and scarier implications of the film likely to go over children's heads.

The film is also well cast. Levi Miller makes a promising debut as the young Peter and carries the film well. He's got good support from Garrett Hedlund as Hook and Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, both hamming it up but not annoyingly so. One thing's for sure-Hugh Jackman looked like he was having a ball. Where Jackman and Hedlund are more over the top, Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily and Amanda Seyfried as Mary (Peter's mother) have the task of playing more grounded parts. Even with less screen time than their male counterparts, both stand out, not just because they are talented actresses, but because Joe Wright has a knack for presenting strong female characters in his films. Adeel Akhtar as Smee and Nonso Anozie as Bishop are also welcome additions to the film's solid cast.

One could argue that Pan steals or borrows a lot from other movies. I certainly felt heavy influences from both the Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars films. I even got some vibes of Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow and Paul WS Anderson's The Three Musketeers. But that doesn't make Pan unoriginal or uninspired. Filmmakers will always be influenced by other filmmakers. Pan is able to stand on its own as a film and that's what matters.

Pan certainly deserves an audience and a better reception than it has gotten. A $15.5 million opening normally wouldn't be disappointing this time of the year, but considering the film's $150 million budget, it is. All I can say is that if you're a fan of adventure and/or fantasy movies in general, or you're a big fan of Hook (like I am), you should find a level of enjoyment in Pan. 8/10.?