Peter Pan & Wendy - Movie Content Review

Peter Pan & Wendy - Movie Content Review - Picture of Peter Pan, Wendy, John, and Michael

Peter Pan & Wendy is a live action movie with a different story than Disney's 1953 cartoon Peter Pan.  Peter Pan takes Wendy and her brothers to Neverland, a magical place without parents where you never grow up.  When Captain Hook and his band of pirates spy Peter Pan and the children flying, he relentlessly pursues them in an effort to wipe out all children in Neverland.

This content review will contain spoilers when they are relevant.

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Message

In the beginning of the movie Wendy doesn't want to grow up, and at the end of the movie she does.  The children all realize they miss their mother.  Peter Pan says he can do anything by himself and Wendy disagrees by pointing out his use of magic.  These three messages are so poorly supported that it's possible they're just unexplained parts of the story and there really is no message in the movie.

Content

Peter Pan & Wendy - Language - Picture of Wendy and Tinker Bell

Language

There's no swearing in this movie.

Peter Pan & Wendy - Fears - Picture of the Crocodile

Fears

Children may find the crocodile particularly scary.  It's massive, unstoppable, eats several people, and isn't a silly character like it was in Disney's 1953 cartoon Peter Pan.

Captain Hook could be mildly scary for little children, as he attempts to kill Peter Pan and the children multiple times.  Additionally, he kidnaps the children on several occasions.  In one of those kidnapping incidents, Captain Hook and the pirates sneak into Peter's hideout and capture the children while they were sleeping; while this specific scenario isn't explicitly shown, there's enough information given for children to understand what happens.

There are no storms, fires, clowns, or scary darkness.

Peter Pan & Wendy - Family & Relationships - Picture of Wendy, John, and Michael with the Lost Boys

Family & Relationships

There's a few discussions about mothers with the Lost Boys (the group of children Peter leads who live in Neverland) and whether they miss or can even remember their mother.  By the end of the movie, all the children end up missing their mothers.  

Wendy gives Peter a "kiss" when he gets hurt, which is actually just a thimble; he later gives her a "kiss" back, which is just an acorn on a necklace.

Wendy and her brothers leave with Peter while their parents are sleeping.  It's unclear if they originally planned to return or not.  However, it's implied the Lost Boys left their homes in similar manners and never returned; while Peter himself has been in Neverland so long that Wendy's family now lives in the house he grew up in.

There's no divorce or bullying.

Peter Pan & Wendy - Other Content - Picture of Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, and the pirates

Other Content

Tinker Bell is a tiny fairy with magical pixie dust that enables flight.  Neverland is a magical place where children never age and the way to get there is a mysterious and magical process.  Peter Pan's shadow has a mind of its own.

There's a moderate amount of sword and fist fighting.  A crocodile eats many people.  One character is cut across the chest, falls from a great height, and left for dead.

There's no intense feelings, time travel, evolution, or religion.

Peter Pan & Wendy - Is It Woke? - Picture of girl Lost Boys

Is It Woke?

Before the movie released there was a lot of concerns that the movie was woke, so I figured the topic deserved its own section.

Tinker Bell was in Disney's 1953 Peter Pan, as well as several Tinker Bell focused movies made in the last 15 years, and she was white.  Peter Pan was also white in the 1953 movie.  In this movie both Tinker Bell and Peter Pan are played by actors with non-white skin.  One of the Lost Boys is played by an actor with Down Syndrome.  Tiger Lily speaks a different language sometimes, and it is subtitled.  These things are never a problem or even referenced in the movie.

In Disney's 1953 Peter Pan the Lost Boys were all boys, but in this movie several of the Lost Boys are girls.  When Wendy realizes this she is surprised, because the bedtime story she knows from her mother never mentioned girls as part of Peter's Lost Boys.  Wendy then tells them "but you're not all boys".  One of the girls respond with "So?". Wendy, pondering the situation, then says "Well I guess it doesn't really matter". 

Since I didn't notice anything pertaining to LGBT and it appears the other concerns people had with the movie are based on Disney using a more diverse cast of actors to tell a different story than the 1953 cartoon (something I personally have no problem with), in my opinion this movie isn't woke.  But as we've seen in the past several years (Strange World, Beauty and the Beast, Lightyear), Disney isn't afraid to slip things into children's movies, or even make an entirely agenda driven movie, so I encourage you to formulate your own opinion.

Peter Pan & Wendy - Movie Content Review - Picture of Peter Pan, Wendy, John, and Michael

Conclusion

Peter Pan & Wendy is a bland movie with a different story than the original Disney cartoon and extremely mild messaging.  As long as you don't feel the movie is woke, the only major concern is making sure your child can handle the crocodile scene.


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