Veronika Eulo

Compelled to leave my first movie review due to my phone generating too many articles for my viewing (dis)pleasure, stating that no kid could possibly find this rendition of Peter Pan ("& Wendy") enjoyable. *Eye roll* Oh, yes they can. My daughter (7) and son (4, soon to be 5) will gleefully sing this movie's praises to anyone right now. The movie came out less than a week ago, maybe, and they've seen it 3x. They love it, and I gotta say, I do, too. *Spoilers* I grew up on the original, but once Hook came out, the original was kicked to the curb until my late teens/early 20s, when I was in the Air Force, feeling homesick and nostalgic for my childhood. Upon viewing a number of my old Disney favorites through the lens of a young adult, I realized how cringy and outright problematic so many of these tales were. Especially Peter Pan. To the point I couldn't watch it again without being bothered by the blatant misogyny, sexism, and racism. Many years later, when my daughter was 3 or 4 she saw the Peter Pan thumbnail on the tv and wanted to watch it. I put it on and didn't say a word. She immediately recognized Tinkerbell and was ready to be whisked away in the magic, but since she'd seen the entire catalogue of Tinkerbell movies, my daughter was confused why the Tinkerbell in Peter Pan was so mean to Wendy, and why Peter Pan himself was acting like a "bad guy" (being misogynistic in the way he spoke about girls/Wendy). My daughter also noted how the mermaids wanted to kill Wendy ("We were only trying to drown her"), while PP stood by, laughing and egging on what she was aware was bully behavior. My daughter loves mermaids, so seeing them behave this way after Tink and Peter already had her scratching her head, she was over it. We turned off the movie, speaking about the main characters not being too kind and girls portrayed horribly as a whole. I reminded her of the many movies she loved where girls (and people) were just as kind, brave, and strong like she is (e.g. Moana, The Princess and the Frog, Coco, Rapunzel). Concepts like this are important, I think, for what a small child digests. Especially inquisitive and discussion-prone children like mine have always been. I figured Peter Pan & Wendy couldn't be worse than the original, though, I didn't think it'd ever rank up there with Hook. But it pixie dusted its way into my heart and soared right on up there. My kids find it magical, hilarious, and they love to see me moved to tears. A villain meeting karma or making their way to good also pleases them. Naturally, I was relieved to see not only the exclusion of the aforementioned misogyny, sexism, and racism, but further, that Wendy held the mirror up to her own mother, even for a moment, verbalizing that rearing children is not a job for a child, it's a job for a parent. Furthermore, growing up is hard and happens in a blink, so it's okay to hold onto childhood when you're still in it. So I was cool with seeing the child-mommy to all nipped in the bud. All in all, I was moved and touched by Peter Pan & Wendy. I cried with Wendy's first reel of happy thoughts (how desperately she wanted to be a small child again), and again, at the end, when her happy thoughts are a collection of memories, plus images of the magic that might await in a long lived life. This was a beautiful rendition, tied up with a pretty bow, whereas, to me, the original tale feels like an unwrapped gift I have zero use for, tossed at me in a Walmart plastic bag.