ime stands still in Neverland, where Peter Pan (Weaver), the boy who never grows up, leads his lost boys in an endless whirl of fun and games punctuated by occasional clashes with the hapless pirate Captain Hook (Burton). However, back in the real world, time has gone by in this sequel to the 1953 Disney classic Peter Pan.
Return to Neverland opens in wartime London, a city suffering under the onslaught of Nazi bombers. Wendy (Soucie) has grown up and has two children of her own and a husband off at the war. She tells the children stories of Neverland and her adventures with Peter. The problem is that young Jane (Owen) isn't having any of it. War has taken away her father and is relentlessly destroying the city around her. Suddenly, it's a deadly serious and very grown-up world. Jane has put away her Peter Pan doll and her plan to become the first lost girl. Now the stories that still entrance her younger brother, Danny, just make her angry.
All this comes to a head in a bitter argument the night Wendy tells the children they're to be evacuated to the countryside for their safety. Coincidentally, that's the very night none other than Captain Hook himself shows up and kidnaps Jane. As confused about the passage of time as any Neverland resident, Hook has mistaken Jane for her mother, and wants to use her as bait in his latest plan to trap Peter Pan.
Of course, that scheme is foiled as promptly as all Hook's plans, and the rescued Jane is off to explore Neverland with Peter. But despite the undeniable reality of the place, Jane can't let go and truly accept Neverland, especially considering the way she left things back home. Peter just annoys her, and frustrates her efforts to maintain a stiff upper lip and figure out a way back to London. Eventually her refusal to believe—in the "I believe in fairies" sense—begins having its inevitable effect on Neverland, even as Captain Hook sees a way to use Jane in a plan to get Peter Pan that might actually work.
A detour on the way to the video shelf
In recent years, Disney has made a mint with direct-to-video sequels to theatrical hits like Aladdin and Pocahontas. These sequels don't get the lavish treatment of a marquee release and aren't up to that standard. But they get the job done for Disney's core audience, and offer some relief for their parents after the 118th video viewing of the originals.
That's the kind of film Return to Neverland is, and it's not immediately clear what prompted Disney to send this one into theaters first. Perhaps it's because movies like Steven Spielberg's Hook have made clear that the original Peter Pan has become a primal myth for the boomer generation.
But, despite the film's appeal for younger audiences, nostalgic boomers hoping for a re-examination of the Peter Pan in all of them will be mostly disappointed. At barely an hour long (a classic Pluto cartoon adds a few minutes) the film doesn't have time for much subtext. Even the songs and the showcase CGI sequence seem abbreviated. Plus there are all those throwaway references to the first film to squeeze in in the name of honoring the classics.
Given how rushed it is, it's surprising Return to Neverland works as well as it does. It's Jane that saves the film. Even before she's whisked away, she wants badly to immerse herself in the Neverland stories she once loved, but doesn't dare. Once she gets there, her guilt won't let her enjoy it, and she ends up damaging Neverland with her disbelief, like some pre-pubescent Thomas Covenant. Her eventual reconciliation with childhood, though, happens more because the story needs it to than for any good reason.
The rest of the film is pure slapstick cartooning for the kids. Much of it involves Captain Hook's ongoing humiliation, this time involving a giant octopus. The animation strikes an odd note as well, largely because the designers are basically stuck with a look and feel from 1953.
Overall, kids will enjoy Return to Neverland. For adults who have enjoyed Disney's lavishly animated musicals, this one's not a complete disaster, but neither is it in the same league as those movies.
