Peter Pan Movies
J.M.Barrie’s tale of the boy that wouldn’t grow up and his adventures with Indians, pirates and fairies have captured the imagination of adults and children ever since the story appeared. The many stage productions and Peter Pan movies have entertained families over the years. The first film was in the silent era in 1924. Many people’s first encounter with the story however, is the 1953 animated version from Disney. Sammy Cahn co-wrote the music and the animation was first class. Popular child actor Bobby Driscoll voiced the character of Peter.
In 1988, another Peter Pan movie appeared with the release of an animation from Australia, which was made available on video. Director Steven Spielberg wanted to film the story, as it had been one of his childhood favorites. Hook came out in 1991 and it re-told the tale in an unusual way. Peter has grown up and forgotten his childhood. Played by Robin Williams, he is called Peter Banning and he is a workaholic lawyer who doesn’t see his children very much. When his children are kidnapped by Captain Hook, he goes back to Neverland to rescue them. Hook has been bored and missed fighting his old foe. Gradually, Peter re-establishes his old identity.
The film has a terrific cast with Dustin Hoffman almost unrecognizable as Captain Hook, Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell, Bob Hoskins as Smee and Maggie Smith as the older Wendy with Gwyneth Paltrow as the younger Wendy. There were cameo appearances form singers Phil Collins, David Crosby and Jimmy Buffet. John Williams composed the score.
Return to Neverland (2002) was another animated version, made as a sequel to Disney’s 1953 Peter Pan movie. The events take place during the Blitz of World War II in London. In 2003, a live action film, simply titled Peter Pan, was released. Jeremy Sumpter played Peter and Jason Isaacs played the double roles of Captain Hook and George Darling. Another Peter Pan movie to change time zones is Neverland from 2003, set in the early 21st century of Los Angeles.
Finding Neverland is a film about the author himself, J.M.Barrie, played by Johnny Depp. Barrie befriends a widowed mother of four young sons, called Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet). He plays with her sons and this inspires him to write the play that becomes Peter Pan. The Peter Pan movie also stars Julie Christie and Dustin Hoffman. It is an intriguing insight into the writing process of the Scottish writer.
Great Ormond Children’s Hospital in London has benefited from the books, plays and films of Barrie’s story. He gave a portion of the royalties to the hospital in 1929. The hospital museum contains the Peter Pan Gallery, which has an archive of many different editions of the book in different languages.