Neverland (2011)

Neverland is a joint creation of Sky Movies Production and Parallel films, it was originally shown in the summer of 2011 on the Sky Premiere channel but I caught it re-showing over the Christmas/New Year holiday. I was pretty gutted I missed it the first time round, so was very happy when it got repeated especially at Christmas which I think is the perfect time for a fantasy adaptation. The cast included Rhys Ifans, Anna Friel, Bob Hoskins, Charles Dance and the voice of Keira Knightley. The all-star cast plus the fact I love all things Peter Pan meant I had high expectations for Neverland.

Raised on the streets of turn-of-the century London, orphaned Peter and his friends Tootles, Fox, Slightly, Curly, and the Twins survive by being young pickpockets; led by the charming but also cunning Jimmy. James Hook better known as Jimmy aspires for better things, and plans on making it big by snatching a priceless, some believe, magical treasure. However the plan doesn’t quite go to plan and the treasure instead transports Jimmy and the boys to another world. Neverland as this new world is named is a magical land made up of jungles, crocodiles, mountains, eternal youth, snow forests, lost travellers and the native tree spirits. Jimmy, Peter, and the boys are soon to find that Neverland is not a peaceful place, a war is taking place, between the native american Kaw tribe and a band of 18th century pirates led by the power-crazed Captain Elizabeth Bonny. But as the fight to save this strange and beautiful world becomes vital, Hook, Peter, and the ragamuffin lost boys must decide which side they are on.

I am afraid as much as Neverland showed promise it really didn’t live up to my expectations at all, maybe my expectations were too high or this really wasn’t very good quality; either way I didn’t love it I only liked it. The positives first I enjoyed Rhys Ifans as a man finally showing his true colours as you see him transform from Jimmy to Hook. Anna Friel was also excellent as a sexy and devious Captain Elizabeth Bonny. Bob Hoskins and Charles Dance were also good when you saw them, and Keira Knightley was just being the a voice to a nondescript looking Tinker Bell. However what really let it down was Peter he is the central character but I think Charlie Rowe’s portrayal of him was weak and Q’orianka Kilcher as Aaya (Tiger Lily) wasn’t great either.

I’m not really blaming some of the younger actors though I think they and the whole show suffered from a serious lack of directing. Personally I found the scenes a bit static with a lack of both character and camera movement, the special effects left a lot to be desired as well. Apparently it was written and directed by Nick Willing, I think Willing focused a bit too much on making an interesting but also complicated back story to what is an essentially a simple, magical children’s story. All the way through all I could think about was how I’d rather be watching Robin Williams in Hook (1991) or Jeremy Sumpter in the more recent Peter Pan (2003).

All in all Neverland was rather disappointing for me, it really suffered from not meeting the high expectations that were set by a string of much better screen adaptations that came before it. I recommend this to bookworms who just want an afternoon’s light family entertainment.

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