An inappropriately fast paced feast of outlandish extravagance and underwhelming emotions as well as characters.
Warner Bros; 2015 NOTE: this is a PR photo.
Over the years Joe Wright has proven himself to be a capable director with the likes of Anna Karenina, Atonement and Pride & Prejudice, as a specialist in production design he has demonstrated a masterful approach to the visual elegance of the cinema. However unlike the subtle beauty of Anna Karenina or the beautiful desperation of Atonement, Pan seems like a court jester whose been put on trial: it’s not unamusing but it does scream overcompensation, a much forced need to entertain and one with a shallow character.
A live action prequel to the work of Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie, Pan tells the origin story of the boy who wouldn’t grow up as young Peter is kidnapped from his orphanage during WWII, by pirates who then bring him to Neverland under the cruel ruling of Black Beard. In order to stop the infamous villain from discovering and destroying the hidden fairy kingdom, Pan must uncover his fate with the help of Hook and Tiger Lily.
With a premature narration that’d never again appear in the film, Pan opens as Mary- Peter’s mother played by Amanda Seyfried with too much makeup, drops the infant on the door step of an orphanage. What follows is some typical overacting performed by pre-teen children, and in most circumstances this is nothing to be critiqued for and should be applauded as child actors such as Levi Miller (Peter Pan) makes their transition from stage to big screen. However to make this a pleasant experience for adult audiences without feeling too left out it would require some witty tongues to entertain the grownups, and the lack of such cleverly written amusements became blatantly obvious later in the film with some considerably horrible lines that really could have been left out or replaced.
Woah Fuchs, why the cringey lines?
The final cut of the film seemed to have been edited under a timer, and though ‘a fast-paced adventure family movie’ may feel like an appealing option, without the creative liberty that the producing staff should possess, the theatrical version presented left us with little time to appreciate the beautifully designed production sets and detailed costumes as scenes were cut off abruptly, yet to my bewilderment the overall storyline somehow managed to contrastingly progress somewhat sluggishly with little thrill, forming a paradox of discomfort. Adding to this unpleasantness, John Powell’s ever present music score over saturates the already brief scenes, and the tone colour can even at times mismatch with the pre-existing actions on screen.
For a film that plans to expand into a potential trilogy, the characters within felt surprisingly underdeveloped with the plot jumping aimlessly from one subsection to another, resulting in unmemorable figures. Hugh Jackman donning a ridiculously humongous ‘gown’ of sorts starred as Black Beard the unconvincing villain, and though he tried to breath life into the character by adding a certain degree of theatricality to bring complexity, you will recognize this failed character when its CGI double appears with more sentience than its original;
Garret Hedlund over-enunciates every single one of his lines, perhaps to demonstrate and foreshadow Hook’s crazed nature but did so inadequately, resembling more to a child who has just learnt the art of speech and is flaunting it with unnecessary pride, than a potential villain;
Rooney Mara’s makeup was certainly one of the best highlights, yet her featureless personality as Tiger Lily, one of the more capable warriors in Neverland unfortunately wasn’t, a near-miss on an attempt to represent a fierce female fighter, however Rooney Mara does play adequately given the limited dialogues and despite the white-washing petition;
One should easily sympathize with an orphaned child determined to find the lost mother, however in Pan, even as Levi Miller performs beautifully scene by scene, it all felt too disjointed and thereby rendering the title character insipid with underwhelming emotions.
What would be ordinarily accounted for as merits in a family film such as the excellent CGI and special effects could only supplement the vapidity of the story in this case as the thrill and risk run low for the major personas. Black Beard’s apparent wig and his patent love for showmanship could have been a major costuming win, yet as the chief villain of the story he remained unexplored, just as his wardrobe remained as a malfunction rather than a distinctive personal style.
Before you make the conclusion that Wright has butchered your child hood, it’s essential to remember when watching a film such as Pan that it isn’t so much your return to childhood for a reshowing of 1953’s Disney cartoon, as it’s a family adventure for kids of the modern generation. And in regards to that notion, though Pan may have many faults it’s still overall enjoyable if you get over a few cringes. Joe Wright may have had a hard time directing a family adventure film rather than the more serious literary adaptations he’s known for, but he should be able to present a much more pleasing work if he directs (unlikely) the sequel that has already been green lighted.
Overall, Pan offers a lavish treat of Wright’s unique vibrancy, both in world building and production design, but the pacing, scripting of story may severely disappoint those looking forward to a ‘magical adventure of the boy who wouldn’t grow up’ that this family film should be known for.
In theatres everywhere from 24th of September 2015 in Australia
MPAA Rating: PG
ACB Rating: PG
Run Time: 111 min
-Henry Pan
An overzealous film critic wannabe, Henry Pan makes a trip down cinema lane once a week, in order to decrease his ever-increasing massive watch list.
