Susan Granger’s review of “RETURN TO NEVERLAND” (Walt Disney Pictures)
When Disney animation made sequels like “The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride,” “Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas,” “Scamp’s Adventures,” “Return of Jafar” and “Aladdin and the King of Thieves,” they’ve gone direct-to-video – until now. The theatrical release of “Return to Neverland” continues the 1953 “Peter Pan” classic with visual consistency. Wendy (Kathie Soucie) is now grown up and raising a family of her own in London during the W.W.II blitz when fathers are off fighting the war and children are being sent to the countryside for safety. The skeptical heroine is Jane (Harriet Owen), Wendy’s war-weary daughter who certainly doesn’t believe in her mother’s magical tales of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell – until, one night, she’s kidnapped by fiendish Captain Hook (Corey Burton), who thinks she’s Wendy and is plotting to lure Peter Pan (Blayne Weaver) to his doom. Once in Neverland, she’s rescued by the still-prepubescent Peter, who is bewildered until she explains that she’s Wendy’s daughter. Then Jane meets the new crop of Lost Boys and embarks on her own adventure, involving an orange octopus and buried treasure. But, above all, Jane feels a sense of duty to return to London and care for her little brother and – to that end – she is tricked into making a deal with Captain Hook, who agrees to fly her home. But, of course, the tricky Captain is not to be trusted, and Jane learns that if she really believes in fairies – with “faith, trust and pixie dust” – she can fly home on her own. And who can blame writer Temple Mathews and director Robin Budd for borrowing that bit of “Wizard of Oz” folklore to augment J.M. Barrie’s original story? On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Return to Neverland” is a spirited 7, aimed at families with single-digit kidlets..
