This week a new version of “Peter Pan,” inspired by both the 1953 Disney film and the original works by J.M. Barrie, splashes on Disney+. And it was enough to make us think about the many, many times the story has been brought to life (and where this new live-action film ranks among them). With that in mind we decided to list five great versions of the “Peter Pan” story – and where to stream them. Make sure you’ve got your pixie dust and remember that to get to Never Land, it’s the second star on the right and straight on until morning.
Also, two runners-up we wanted to address: the 1924 silent film version from Paramount Pictures (with Betty Bronson as Pan and Scottish character actor Ernest Torrence as Hook), which is often cited in the same breath as the Disney version as being the most influential; and Joel Schumacher’s 1987 horror comedy “The Lost Boys,” which uses the framework established by J.M. Barrie to tell the story of vampires on the California coast. Not only is “The Lost Boys” a fun reinvention of the mythology but it’s also one of the most visually arresting movies of the 1980s.
5. Hook (1991)
Okay, “great” might be stretching it here. Steven Spielberg had long wanted to make a “Peter Pan” movie, even talking to Disney about a more direct remake of the indelible 1953 classic (see below) before settling on this version of the story, with an adult Peter (Robin Williams) who becomes a cutthroat businessman and forgets about Never Land until a vengeful hook abducts his children. That forces him back to where he grew up and makes him reconnect with his childhood. Spielberg abandoned this idea for a while, asserting that he had explored the themes well enough in “Empire of the Sun.” He probably should have stayed away. The movie Spielberg made years later is cold and detached; for a man often criticized for his schmaltzy sentimentality and earnestness it often comes across as cynical. Not that it’s completely without its joys – the cast is uniformly excellent (Dustin Hoffman as Hook, Bob Hoskins as Smee, Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell) and the production design and cinematographer are often spellbinding. The score, by John Williams, is also terrific which is maybe to be expected considering at one point it was a musical (seriously). But the chaotic production can also be felt in every frame, as the movie wobbles while trying to establish a tonal bedrock. Some who saw the movie as a kid consider it an underrated classic. Not us. (Streaming on HBO Max.)
4. Pan (2015)
Poor “Pan.” Meant as a sort of “Peter Pan” origin story (and potential franchise-starter), it’s the tale of how Peter Pan (played by adorable newcomer Levi Miller) was abducted by a fearsome pirate and brought to Never Land. Only this time, it’s not Hook that serves as his adversary, it’s Blackbeard (played by Hugh Jackman). Instead, Hook is a hot, young, two-handed adventurer played by Garrett Hedlund and one of Peter’s pals. Clearly the ambitious was there, both visually (it is a Joe Wright movie after all) and in terms of reinventing the established mythology. And it is a ton of fun, if you don’t think about it too hard – like how they cast Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, an indigenous queen or why anyone would make a Peter Pan movie without those recognizable touchstones. You can tell Wright’s vision ultimately clashed with what Warner Bros. wanted from the movie; his regular composer Dario Marianelli was replaced by the more anonymous John Powell and the movie has two credited cinematographers, odd given Wright’s intense devotion to photographic inventiveness (as evidenced by every other film of his). Still, there’s some pretty great stuff in “Pan” and I’ll never forget visiting the set and watching Jackman getting hoisted onto a pirate ship while South African noise rap band Die Antwoord blasted on giant speakers. (Streaming on Netflix.)
3. Peter Pan (2003)
The first truly great “Peter Pan” movie on the list, this version is awfully faithful to the source material (and previous adaptations), maintaining the status quote in some reliable ways (like the stage tradition of having the same actor, in this case Jason Isaacs, play both the Darling children’s father and Captain Hook) while updating the look of the movie, as it is festooned with all of the circa-2003 visual effects money could buy. (The international production cost a reported $130 million.) And there’s something to be said about a simple, solid “Peter Pan” movie. It was handsomely directed by Australian filmmaker P.J. Hogan (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”) and the young cast Hogan assembled is more than game (Jeremy Sumpter, as Peter, has an elfish twinkle). Michael Kahn, who edited “Hook” for Spielberg, returned to give this “Peter Pan” some shape (and he mostly succeeds, even though the 113-minute runtime feels a bit long). Thankfully he didn’t have to cut out any songs last minute. If. You’ve never seen this version of “Peter Pan,” it really is quite something. And fun for the whole family too! (Streaming on Freevee.)
2. Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)
This week’s “Peter Pan & Wendy,” from co-writer/director David Lowery, is an absolute treasure. Lowery has been through the Disney remake gauntlet before; he directed the similarly excellent 2016 remake of “Pete’s Dragon,” which seemingly got him the job to redo “Peter Pan” (the announcement was made before “Pete’s Dragon” had even been released). Now, after all this time, his version of the classic 1953 Disney movie is here. Lowery wisely includes elements familiar to fans of both the story and the animated film, and even-more-wisely removes unnecessary and problematic material that would clash with the sensibilities of modern audiences. (Tiger Lily, for instance, is played by an actual indigenous actress, the great Alyssa Wapanatahk and there’s a young actor with down syndrome who plays one of the Lost Boys.) And most of all this movie is both fun and thoughtful; there are some rousing set pieces (including one with a terrifically reimagined crocodile) but more than that, he makes an effort to embed everything with an emotional realism that has previously escaped previous iterations. And Jude Law is clearly having the time of his life as the tortured Captain Hook, with his prosthetic looking less like the gleaming Christmas ornament of Spielberg’s “Hook” and more like something Candyman would find appropriate. This is arguably the very best of the Disney live-action remakes and could solidify itself as a classic in its own right in years to come. (Streaming on Disney+.)
1. Peter Pan (1953)
There’s just no getting around it. This is just the best. Not only is it a really sturdy adaptation of the J.M. Barrie story but it also a solid movie on its own. “Peter Pan” was one of the first stories that Walt Disney purchased for adaptation into an animated feature; the rights were obtained way back in 1938, a year after “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was released. But a number of factors (including the outbreak of World War II) delayed the film’s development, until things started happening again in the late 1940’s. Beautifully animated (this was the last feature where the original Nine Old Men were still supervising animation) and crisply told (it comes in at a svelte 77 minutes), it’s so full of wonderful imagery and visceral thrills that when Shanghai Disneyland opened in 2016, it had a brand new Peter Pan ride (to compliment the other attractions that have been at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, for years). Of course, there are some things that haven’t aged super well about the original “Peter Pan” – Wendy is a submissive character who gets bossed around the whole movie and the less we say about the depiction of Native Americans, the better. (There’s an entire musical number called “What Makes the Red Man Red.”) Still, there’s enough good in “Peter Pan” – from the songs that aren’t horribly racist to the inventively staged action sequences to the character and creature designs – that you can feel okay with it being heralded as a classic, animated or otherwise. (Streaming on Disney+.)
