Last week I was at wal-mart and plan on picking it up at the local wal-mart while it was on sale. I hadn’t watched it in at least 5 or 6 years so I decided to go home and watch it again.

Peter Pan was originally slated for a 1940's release but do to world war 2 it wasn’t released in till 1953. It was used to help the struggling Disney studios get up after its feet after WW2 and the bomb that was Alice and Wonderland.
It broke several rules on the play and tv specials that feature Peter Pan, and the main reason Peter is a boy and is played/voiced by a boy. Which is good because has a kid watching an airing of it back in the 1980’s I was confused has heck to see Peter played by a girl, I was going is this Patricia Pan or something. While it is an entertaining movie there are a few things in it that have not sustain the test of time, and things a modern day Disney wouldn’t put in their films.

Movie.
Peter Pan is about a boy who doesn’t want to grow up, and the Darling kids, John, Michael and Wendy. Along with the pixie Tinker Bell they explore never land. A magical island full of lost boys, mermaids, and evil pirates lead by Captain Hook.

Peter Pan blends plenty of things in it, it has plenty of magic and weird things that happen in never land. Not has much has Alice in Wonderland but enough to realize that your far outside of Kansas. It also has some decent characters in it that's why it's so much better then it's predecessor Alice in Wonderland.

Animation
The animation is pretty good for being 50 years, it's amazing how much better peter pan is to Snow White. The characters look more real and the environment is more impressive. Of course one of the best things that came out of the work is Tinker Bell, in most movies, plays, and tv shows before Tink was played by a flashlight. In this one they where able to make her into an actual pantomime character that is still used by Disney today.

Voice.
The voice acting in this is wonderful. Disney used big stars for there time most of them where usually Disney actors from the lot, or famous radio actors from that time. The characters come to life on the screen and the voices are great.

Of course by favorite thing about the film is the Crock that is always chasing hook to try to heat him. The crock is always introduce with mostly just a tuba playing and a some small drums. The music more silly then it is scaryier and it's always funny to see Hook go crazy when he hears it start to be played.

Dark side of the pan
All right it wouldn’t be a fair review if I didn’t say anything about the stereotype Indians. The Indians are big, half-naked, and dress in a lot of feathers. They of course speak in half sentence and say HOW. While now day's we wouldn’t see this in any sort of films, at that time the Indians in this where actually treated kindly.

First the story was written almost 100 years ago by an English man. Another thing to note is this version also came out in the 1950's in which civil right laws at yet to pass and stereotype minorities in Hollywood at yet to become a taboo.

Think about it in the 1950's and 60's it was the westerns that were the most popular. And the Indians in these were usually depicted has being evil, and therefore good targets for the good guys (aka the white cowboy) to shoot. Sure there where a couple of them on the good guys side but usually they where women who the cowboy's where in love with, or dumber then a backside of a donkey's rear end side kick to the white cowboy.

In this light the Indians in Peter Pan are shown in a lot better way they are friends with Peter and the lost boys, and like to play war games with them.

There is still some good things about Peter Pan has far has role models go. While Peter is a child that does not want to grow up he does noble things. He takes care of all the things in never land, and provides a father figure for the lost boys.

DVD
The dvd in this doesn’t contain a lot of extras but it does feature a few good things. The movie is done in it's regular theatrical release, which is standard. The picture is fairly clean but it's no by has good has that of Snow White.

The extras include
2 behind the scenes documentary, 1 being made back in the 50's has a promotional hype, the other being done by today's historians about it. Audio commentary hosted by Roy Disney with so many people doing commentary's that they basically stumble over each other, you have the life actress for tinkerbell (for animation they do scenes with life actors to help them animate), the voice actress of Wendy, 2 animators from that time, 2 film historians, plus voice clips of Walt. It's to much and should have been split into different commentaries.

Other things that this disc has is mostly for kids. It has a storybook that is guaranteed to nauseate anyone over the age of 3. And a pirate treasure hunting game which is trivia over the movie, it's not bad for a quick one time play through.

Final recommendation
Even with the outdated Indians I found Peter Pan a delightful film to watch. I have yet to see it’s sequel return to never land, as I fear that it will not live up to it’s other sequel Hook. It’s still available and supposedly Disney is supposed to discontinue it sometime in the near future.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8