One of my all-time favorite movies is The Green Knight (2021) by David Lowery. His deep philosophical take on Arthurian Legends and his compelling symbolic capture of the Hero's Journey has always been very close to my heart. Now, this is going to be a very quick review because while I liked a lot of things out of Peter Pan & Wendy, I might compare it to The Green Knight (2021) for I find that movie to be far superior. I'll begin by saying that I thought this movie was pretty solid and quite enjoyable.
I'll go ahead and list what I liked about it: first of all, this movie looks much better and more compelling than pretty much all of the Disney live-action remakes. Unlike those movies, David Lowery actually put effort into making this movie come alive and tried to be creative through his directorial style. Jude Law is excellent as Captain Hook, and in many ways, he pretty much carried this movie on his back. I also really liked how Lowery changed most of Captain Hook's backstory, and he tried and succeeded at making this version of Hook more sympathetic compared to his other versions.
The music was also quite enjoyable to hear, though I find the soundtrack in The Green Knight (2021) to be far more memorable and satisfying. The music in that film had more of a symbolic and interesting approach for its Arthurian setting. All the kid actors, especially Peter Pan and Wendy, really gave it their all. David Lowery sure knows how to make both old and newer actors feel dynamic and complex while he puts them as these characters. The characters themselves are quite enjoyable, and I was quite surprised to see how lively and creative Lowery made all the pirate characters.
And... that is where my praise ends. The movie looks and sounds spectacular, and while taking some liberties, it still manages to be way better than all the Disney live-action remakes. This is now where I give y'all some of the more major problems and how The Green Knight is better at tackling such themes and nature than this film. Most of the time, we see that Peter Pan and Captain Hook were once best friends who became bitter enemies. This was a change that I applaud the director for changing as it makes them very deep characters compared to what we've seen from the other live-action Disney stuff.
What The Green Knight (2021) does way better is how Sir Gawain's journey of proving himself as a knight and his becoming ready to finish the game with the Green Knight proves that he is more than a man who keeps his word. We see how he grows, how he overcomes his problems, and how he finds his inner-knight to throw everything away to prove that he is ready to finish the game. With Peter Pan in this film, we don't really get how this all happened in the first place, we are just told that it happened, and we are told to just roll with it. Every other problem with this movie lies with the fact that I've seen some of these concepts done much better in David Lowery's other films, yet I still admire how both his directorial style and charm save this film.
Peter Pan & Wendy is nowhere near the disaster that the audience is saying that it is. It's simply a movie that links with Lowery's style of how he takes characters and symbolizes all of them. His philosophical approach to Captain Hook, Wendy, and Peter Pan may not resonate with younger audiences, but I understand the approach and why he decided to tackle them in this way. In many masterful ways, this movie is The Green Knight (2021) for younger audiences, but the majority of the flaws I've noticed here is simply seen in way better movies that he's done such as A Ghost Story (2017). But what this truly accomplishes in my opinion is being a million times better than any of the garbage remakes Disney has put out and what they are about to put out later.
It's not my favorite movie from David Lowery, but I still found it to be a pretty solid adventure with some fairy dust added to the mix. 👌🏽
I'll go ahead and list what I liked about it: first of all, this movie looks much better and more compelling than pretty much all of the Disney live-action remakes. Unlike those movies, David Lowery actually put effort into making this movie come alive and tried to be creative through his directorial style. Jude Law is excellent as Captain Hook, and in many ways, he pretty much carried this movie on his back. I also really liked how Lowery changed most of Captain Hook's backstory, and he tried and succeeded at making this version of Hook more sympathetic compared to his other versions.
The music was also quite enjoyable to hear, though I find the soundtrack in The Green Knight (2021) to be far more memorable and satisfying. The music in that film had more of a symbolic and interesting approach for its Arthurian setting. All the kid actors, especially Peter Pan and Wendy, really gave it their all. David Lowery sure knows how to make both old and newer actors feel dynamic and complex while he puts them as these characters. The characters themselves are quite enjoyable, and I was quite surprised to see how lively and creative Lowery made all the pirate characters.
And... that is where my praise ends. The movie looks and sounds spectacular, and while taking some liberties, it still manages to be way better than all the Disney live-action remakes. This is now where I give y'all some of the more major problems and how The Green Knight is better at tackling such themes and nature than this film. Most of the time, we see that Peter Pan and Captain Hook were once best friends who became bitter enemies. This was a change that I applaud the director for changing as it makes them very deep characters compared to what we've seen from the other live-action Disney stuff.
What The Green Knight (2021) does way better is how Sir Gawain's journey of proving himself as a knight and his becoming ready to finish the game with the Green Knight proves that he is more than a man who keeps his word. We see how he grows, how he overcomes his problems, and how he finds his inner-knight to throw everything away to prove that he is ready to finish the game. With Peter Pan in this film, we don't really get how this all happened in the first place, we are just told that it happened, and we are told to just roll with it. Every other problem with this movie lies with the fact that I've seen some of these concepts done much better in David Lowery's other films, yet I still admire how both his directorial style and charm save this film.
Peter Pan & Wendy is nowhere near the disaster that the audience is saying that it is. It's simply a movie that links with Lowery's style of how he takes characters and symbolizes all of them. His philosophical approach to Captain Hook, Wendy, and Peter Pan may not resonate with younger audiences, but I understand the approach and why he decided to tackle them in this way. In many masterful ways, this movie is The Green Knight (2021) for younger audiences, but the majority of the flaws I've noticed here is simply seen in way better movies that he's done such as A Ghost Story (2017). But what this truly accomplishes in my opinion is being a million times better than any of the garbage remakes Disney has put out and what they are about to put out later.
It's not my favorite movie from David Lowery, but I still found it to be a pretty solid adventure with some fairy dust added to the mix. 👌🏽
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