Disneytoons review: Return to Never Land

Disneytoons 16th film.

http://megashare.sc/watch-return-to-never-land-online-TmpNeU9RPT0

My opinion right after watching movie

My opinion right after watching the film was that while I like what they did with the main character, there is not much……… plot for her journey to take place. It is very mediocre, and nothing much that has really stood out to me.

Production

There is no info on the production of this film.

Story

The film starts in the 1910s, where World War 1 is taking place, and a grown up Wendy (Kath Soucie) is raising her children by herself, since her husband Edward (Roger Ress) went off to war. London became a place of fear, since bombs became more rampant, so the government made a law that all children had to go to the countryside for safety. Her 12 year old daughter Jane (Harriet Owen) is affected by this, since all of her attitude is overly serious, does not believe in childish nonsense, and spends her time looking up military strategies. Whens he reaches home, her mother is reading her brother Danny (Andrew McDonough) stories about Peter Pan (it is clear that her adventures with Peter pan in the last film only got her more invested to tell her children his stories).

Wendy goes to the door to be told by a government official that her children are booked to attend the train to the countryside tomorrow morning, and Wendy forgot to tell her children earlier. She tells Jane the news, which reasonably upsets her daughter. Wendy tells her that she needs to watch out for her brother, and tell him the Peter Pan stories, since they both need it, but Jane yells at her (and her brother) about Peter Pan being fake, and the world they live currently is nothing like the fairytale world in the books.
You know, what I always found brilliant with the Peter Pan films is that they always have good beginnings. I really like the character arc they have with Jane.

As soon as Jane is asleep, Captain Hook (Corey Burton) and his crew members kidnap her (thinking that she is Wendy). I have to call bullshit on this. How in the hell did Hook find out where Wendy lived? And how did no one in London notice the loud and huge ship hovering a few feet above their town?

So Jane is taken to Never Land, and almost instantly, Peter Pan (Blayne Weaver) shows up, and engages in another fight with Hook, only for Hook to think than Pan was eaten by an Octopus (he replaced the Crocodile from the last film). Peter Pan flies an astounded Jane around, which of course gets Tinkerbell extremely jealous. So after they make it to the Lost Boys living quarters, Peter Pan tells them that Jane is there to be their mother, which makes them all excited, but Jane refuses, since she needs to go home. We also get some more pathetic filler with Smee (Jeff Bennett) and Hook, with the latter running from the Octopus *eye roll*.

Jane tries to make a raft to go home almost instantly, and Peter Pan is watching her in interest; which once again saddens Tinkerbell. I am glad that the dynamic with Peter and Jane is not the same as the dynamic with Peter and Wendy.

Of course the raft fails, and Peer Pan brings her back to their home. Tinkerbell throws a bunch of pixie dust to send her ass out of Never Land, and Jane struggles with flying with the pixie dust. Hook and Smee oversees this, and decides to make a deal with Jane, using her need to go home as leverage for their ulterior plans. Peter Pan and the lost Boys tries to take her list, which pisses her off, and causes her to lash out at them, and when Tinkerbell tries to pull her hair, Jane yells at her, saying that she does not believe in fairies. Peter Pan says good riddance to her, as she walks off, and makes a fire, since it is getting cold, and she will need some warmth before she goes to sleep.

Tinkerbell’s light is dimming out, which causes Peter to devise a plan to force Jane to join them, which angers the Lost Boys, since they do not want a girl to be a part of their group. I see what the story is trying to do with Jane, but half of the time, she is not half wrong, so it is a it hard for me to support the story 100%.

Jane sees Captain Hook dramatically crying, and she grabs his knife to approach him, where he tells her a sob story, which gets her to assist in getting his treasure back, for her to be returned home by his troop members. Jane tells Captain that she will only do it if she promises him to not harm Peter, which Hook agrees to, saying that he will not harm a single hair on his head.

Peter Pan and his crew are looking for Jane the next day, but Jane approaches them, as they all make amends. She gets them to go on a treasure hunt, but she is told to act like a Lost Boy. Somehow, Jane ends up conveniently having fun with all of them, which is honestly kind of contrived. Hook and his crew hijack Peter Pan, his Lost Boys, and specifically the treasure. Hook tells Jane that he thanks her help, though she did not try to set Peter Pan up. So we are dealing with the misunderstanding plot. Grr.

I am sure you all can guess what happens next. Jane goes to see Tinkerbell dimmed out, she cries since it is her fault, and because she finally believes in fairies, Tinkerbell is revived. They go over to the ship, rescue Peter and the other boys, and Hook is defeated, and the octopus goes after him. Jane is returned home (I do not know how flying in space did not kill her) to her mother and brother, and her father comes home from the war, with the family reunited for the first time on a long while. I forgot to mention that Peter Pan and Wendy see one another briefly at the end of the film.

I like that the plot involved a child who grew up way to quickly, but my main issue with the film is that the eecution is a lot more basic and halfassed than it is supposed to be. The Peter Pan plot is repetitive, and the middle of the film kind of dragged for me.

 

Characters

The characters are not horrendous or outstanding.

She is a pretty good main character, and she has had to grow up really quickly because of the war. It was nice to see her recapture her child like traits, though it was very rushed.

He is not as arrogant and insufferable to deal with throughout this film that he was in the last film. Peter is still a bit annoying though.

Captain Hook is the exact same in this film then he was in the predecessor. It is not bad, but it is not great either.

She is like 20 years older than she was in the predecessor, but she still maintains her child-like behavior, though exhibiting that in her motherhood. It would have been nice to see her more in the film.

Animation

The animation is very impressive for a Disneytoons film. The characters look like they are the characters from the last film, and they look pretty realistic. The color is nice, and the backgrounds look nice. It is just decent.

Music

The few songs that there was in this film are not in any way related to the songs in Peter Pan, and I do feel like some continuity is extremely important. What I heard are a bunch of cheesy, and generic music throughout the movie.

Reception at Release

When the film was released on February 10th, 2002,  it made $48,423,368 domestically, and $61,432,424 overseas, with a total and international amount of $109,862,682. It got some mixed reviews, but more so mixed-negative than mixed-positive

Reception Today

The reception today is that many people do not like it, that it takes the integrity of the Peter Pan film away, and that it is just a fool, but it is still one of the better films in the DisneyToon canon.

Final Score

Story: 6/10

Characters: 7/10

Animation: 7.5/10

Music: 6/10

26.5/40 = 66%

Next time…

Review: May 11th, 2015.

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