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Peter Pan (1953)


Maybe Peter Pan (1953) doesn't age well, I don't know. For me, the concern isn't that Peter Pan is racist or that Captain Hook is misogynist... It's more that Wendy is. She's the storyteller, and as an adult viewer, I tend to see her as the "storyteller." Peter Pan and Hook are simply characters in her stories.

Or even if we buy into the idea that Peter Pan and the Lost Boys are real, they're all kids. None of them are mature, and obviously even the pirates shouldn't be seen as beacons of maturity and good morals. So does it really matter how the movie depicts Indians or how it thinks about women?

None of that is really considered in my rating of the movie. As I watch the entire canon of Disney movies again this year, I find myself wanting to use 4/5 stars as the baseline. Most Disney movies have their flaws or weaknesses, but generally speaking, they are usually good movies, fun to watch.

I think I had fun watching Peter Pan, but in terms of stand-out songs or characters, I wasn't feeling it. None of the Lost Boys, for example, stand out. Peter Pan is a little too annoying, and the kids... they're just so damn British. Maybe the character I liked best was Nana, and she's more or less a throw away character.

When you sit down and watch all of the Disney movies as a collection, you start comparing one against the other, too. It's hard not to do. But I know that, for me at least, Peter Pan doesn't reach top tier status. Even if I just group it with the other "classics (pre-1955ish Disney), this one has the classic story, but it still doesn't feel up there with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Bambi.

I know that not all Disney movies need to have a princess, but that would be an interesting subject -- comparing Disney movies that have a princess with ones that do not. Do the movies with a princess rate better overall? And if so, why? Just a little research study for someone to tackle, if interested...

Rating 3.5/5 stars
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