Available at Amazon.com
Directed by
Clyde Geronimi
Wilfred Jackson
Hamilton Luske
Cast
Bobby Driscoll ………. Peter Pan (voice)
Kathryn Beaumont ………. Wendy Darling (voice)
Hans Conried ………. Captain Hook/Mr. Darling (voice)
Bill Thompson ………. Mr. Smee/Other Pirates (voice)
Heather Angel ………. Mrs. Darling (voice)
Paul Collins ………. John Darling (voice)
Tommy Luske ………. Michael Darling (voice)
Candy Candido ………. Indian Chief (voice)
Tom Conway ………. Narrator (voice)
Running Time: 77 minutes
Rated G
DVD Release date: March 6th. 2007
Movie originally released: February 3rd, 1953
JM Barrie’s Peter Pan was first brought to the stage over 100 years ago. It has inspired numerous books, movies, and school productions. It first saw life on the silver screen in 1924 as a silent film. It has inspired no less than eight other movies and TV movies, as well as a few TV series.
This is all to say, a plot summary of the picture should be largely unnecessary.
What we’re looking at here is probably the most famous version of the story, the 1953 Disney animated feature. Here, Peter Pan is noticeably and appropriately male for the first time in a major production. (Though Walt himself did star as Pan in a school production.) Pan is cool and cocky, a daring fighter with no less than three love interests. The pantomime Tinker Bell is both perky and psychotic, serving as a bit of a template for women from Brittany Murphy to Rachel Ray. Hook is a sinister milksop, seconded by the obsequious Mr. Smee.
All it all, it is just under 80 minutes worth of fun and adventure. It lacks the pathos of many of its cohorts, having no “make the kids cry” Bambi’s mother style scene. The famous near-death scene of Tinker Bell is pared down, notably removing the appeal for applause to save the pixie. Walt himself thought that Peter Pan cold and unlikeable. It can hardly be said, however, that Peter Pan is a film without heart, ad what it may miss in tears, the film makes up for in slapstick, imagination and spectacle.
Cast as the eponymous Pan was Bobby Driscoll, a popular child actor who also starred in Disney’s first live-action feature, Treasure Island. Alice in Wonderland herself, Kathryn Beaumont, was given the role of Wendy Darling. Another Alice alum, Bill Thomson (probably best known as Droopy) played the part of Smee. In the tradition of the play, Hook and Mr. Darling were portrayed by the same actor, future Snidely Whiplash and radio star, Hans Conried.
Of course, the real stars of Peter Pan are the cartoons themselves, brought to life by the superstar animators of Disney. Long time friends, and 2/9s of Disney’s “Nine Old Men”, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas worked closely together on Smee and Hook, respectively. In fact, this was the last Disney film to have all of the Nine Old Men as directing animators. Marc Davis designed the iconic Tinker Bell. Wolfgang Reitherman created many of the graceful and energetic action sequences.
In the end, the film shows the choice of “growing up” to be a false dichotomy. The eternal child of Pan is in many ways a responsible caregiver and citizen of Neverland. Hook, the stodgy grownup, is childish and impetuous. In the closing scene we see that even Mr Darling, the pinnacle of adulthood, can remain in touch with his childhood sense of wonder and imagination.
The DVD
For the most part the DVD is great. The restored sound and picture quality is wonderful. It contains endless special features, though some which miss in quality. The major complaint here is this: depending on which DVD player I used, the menu was occasionally screwy. That is, the wrong selection will be highlighted, and underline will strike through the text or be offset, and so on. This should not be, and would negatively affect the DVD score if not for the overkill in DVD Quantity.
Let’s look at what this Platinum 2 disc edition includes:
There is a Commentary Track, but in all fairness it is more like a radio “making of” special hosted by Roy Disney which plays at the same time as the movie. It features a selection of clips from everybody from Leonard Maltin to Frank Thomas to Walt Disney.
Also included is a feature called Song Selection. This questionably useful feature just skips to all the singing parts of the movie with optional sub-titles.
Camp Never Land is a weird little collection of multi-level DVD activities including a picture based Sudoku, something called Tarrrget Practice, and a Tinker Bell flying game. I don’t really see the use of this thing.
There are two deleted songs. The first is “The Pirate Song” shown with early concept sketches. The second is “Neverland” based on mostly completed song abandoned during Pan’s production. The woman who played Belle in Beauty and the Beast sings it in an included music video.
In Walt’s Words: Walt Disney reveals “Why I Made Peter Pan” is a reading based on an old magazine article written by Walt Disney, featuring dramatic America’s Most Wanted style re-enactments and archival photos.
Tinker Bell: A Fairy’s Tale can easily be called a fluff piece playing up the importance on the Tinker Bell character to hype the upcoming CGI Tinker Bell. Not surprisingly, we also get a Sneak Peek of the all-new Tinker Bell movie
Also included is The Peter Pan Story, an odd vintage 1952 featurette.
You Can Fly: The Making of Peter Pan features a lot of overlap with the aforementioned commentary track, but remains entertaining enough.
We get a T-Squad music video: “The Second Star to the Right”. I’m not sure what a T-squad is, but I know that it isn’t for me.
There is something called a Peter Pan virtual flight which features a fairly uninspired 3-d rendering of the settings of Peter Pan.
Peter’s Playful Prank DVD storybook is one of those kiddie read along deals that Disney likes to slap on their discs.
The Peter Pan that almost was would more appropriately be called “the Peter Pans that almost were”. This interesting 20 minute documentary highlights various alternate openings and ending, having Nana go to Neverland and/or be the narrator, and other ideas explored during Peter Pan‘s 16 year (!!) creation process
The set offers us 8 art galleries.
And finally, we get Read-along Peter Pan which basically amounts to a copy of the flick on disc two with slightly fancier subtitles.
All things being equal, there is enough good stuff to ferret out of these extras to make up for the plethora of dead weight.
