MOVIE SCENE
'Return to Neverland' is unfortunate throwback to Disney's past

By Forrest Hartman
Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal

RETURN TO NEVERLAND (Rated G with mild cartoon violence) One and One-Half Stars Uninspired sequel to Disney's 1953 classic "Peter Pan." The animation looks 50 years old, which would have been OK had a Golden Age story accompanied it. Instead, we get rehashed characters and situations that play like the direct-to-video movie this should have been. Disney, 72 mins.

With "Return to Neverland," Disney breaks its rule of sending animated sequels direct to video and leaves us with a picture so bad it makes "Atlantis" look like "Gone With the Wind." We might never know the true story behind "Neverland's" journey to the big screen, but I'm guessing it involved the smoking of much pixie dust.

At the heart of the problem is a horrible script by Temple Mathews. In fact, Mathews has borrowed so heavily from "Peter Pan" that if I dished out credits, he would be allowed only an adapted screenplay nod. As in "Pan," the story begins in a London household, but the setting is now World War II. Wendy has grown up but, as promised, she hasn't forgotten Peter.

She spends her evenings making sure her children, Jane and Danny, are well-versed in tales of Neverland. But Jane, rocked by the bombs that fall on her city each night, has no time for such nonsense — until Captain Hook kidnaps her.

Admittedly, this entry point is promising, but from there forward we're left with scenes that feel like outtakes from the original movie. Hook is the same man he was in 1953, but the crocodile that plagued him has long since given up the chase. Not to fear, Mathews has provided a new nemesis: an octopus that makes clocklike sounds as it approaches. The concept is so unoriginal it's difficult even to write about. But rest assured it's tougher to watch.

The animation purposely replicates the look of the original film and does so successfully, something that already has led to grousing from animation buffs. It seems many folks would have preferred a re-imagined "Pan." Frankly, I wouldn't have minded the throwback animation if it had been set to a Golden Age story, but everyone working on this project was clearly in it for the pay check.

The cast — which include Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and Smee — look and act exactly as they did in the first picture. In fact, "Neverland" might have been a clone, if only directors Robin Budd and Donovan Cook had remembered to nab "Pan's" magic while they were stealing everything else.

"Return to Neverland" might entertain the 5-year-old in your house, but for anyone who's had the misfortune of growing up, it will be a sad reminder that the film industry is on the verge of creative bankruptcy.

Rated G with mild cartoon violence