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Credit: Inside the MagicDisney’s latest live-action remake just hit Disney+ – and, like most of its predecessors, it’s stirring up a storm online.
Just like Disney’s original Peter Pan (1953) – and the numerous other adaptations over the past century – Peter Pan and Wendy (2023) retells J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up,” which follows Wendy, John, and Michael Darling as they travel to Neverland with the ageless eponymous hero.
Peter Pan & Wendy differentiates itself from past renditions of Barrie’s tale by taking a darker approach. Literally. When the trailer debuted in March, fans slammed its “drab and depressing” visuals that seemingly sapped the film of its nostalgic magic.
Since its release on April 28, director David Lowery has done a good job of explaining away the movie’s gloomy overlay as a move to make Neverland feel like “a place that a child could actually get to.”
However, some viewers still aren’t happy with the film’s final product, leading to a phenomenon that’s becoming all too common: review-bombing.
As of April 29, Peter Pan & Wendy currently boasts 41.4% one-out-of-ten ratings on IMDb – equal to 1,551 of the total 3,846 votes. On Rotten Tomatoes, 22% of audiences claim to have enjoyed the film, compared to 69% of critics.
So far, critics have generally been kind towards Peter Pan & Wendy. The consensus on Rotten Tomatoes is that “Peter Pan & Wendy’s obligatory fidelity to the animated classic keeps it from achieving Neverland nirvana, but David Lowery’s pensive direction gives this rendition some of its own magic.”
For those gifting it just one star, however, this lack of “Neverland nirvana” is an issue they just can’t overlook.
“I’ve never been bored by Peter Pan before,” wrote Rotten Tomatoes user Rick S. “Drab, plodding, charmless.”
User Kaito S agreed, writing: “The very definition of mediocrity. The VFX are painful to look at, how did this movie cost hundreds of millions in production I’m sure I don’t know.”
Other users took issue with plot changes that they deemed unnecessary, such as adding female members to the Lost Boys. “Disney is done,” wrote user Ramin A. “What happened to this company? They turned lost boys into lost girls. It was the lost boys because the girls were[n’t] too dumb to get lost. Apparently, the girls are dumb now too.”
For some, it was Wendy’s characterization that threw them off their viewing experience. User S D dubbed Wendy an “overpowered Mary Sue” and complained about the new backstories written for Peter and Hook.
Like a lot of recent cases of review bombing, not every reason is valid. Just as with The Marvels (2023), which was “dislike bombed” for being too “woke” in April, and Pedro Pascal’s “The Last of Us,” which faced a similar fate after featuring a same-sex couple, much of the reasoning can be attributed to online users with a chip on their shoulder about “political correctness.” The casting of Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell and the decision to rework the storylines of the film’s Native American characters to be more culturally sensitive triggered similar responses in the runup to Peter Pan & Wendy’s release.
However, some reviews make a fair point. Disney’s live-action remake train shows zero signs of slowing down. That’s despite overwhelmingly negative reviews of Pinocchio (2022) and complaints about other recent releases.
For a studio that built its name on innovation to rely so heavily on its own back catalog for inspiration is, at best, laziness. At worst, it shows that Disney’s creative well is running dry – and the longer it ignores the backlash, the longer it seems like it just doesn’t care.