Wendy (3/5 Stars)

I cannot say that I am all that familiar with the Peter Pan story. I have only seen untraditional versions of story, Spielberg’s “Hook”, the J.M. Barrie biopic “Finding Neverland, and now “Wendy”. From the first two I gleaned a few details I thought were: 1) Peter Pan is good; 2) Captain Hook is bad; and 3) Neverland is fun.

 “Wendy” the long-awaited second feature of Writer/Director Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) kind of turns the whole thing on its head. The inhabitants of Neverland reminded me of H.G. Wells’ Eloi and Morlocks which would make Peter, the instigator, a sort of nefarious Pied Piper luring innocent children to a dangerous place. I don’t think Zeitlen wanted the movie to feel this way, but it does for the most part, because the dark side to Neverland is much worse than the boring real world that Wendy and her brothers escape from. This movie has what Beasts of the Southern Wild had in terms of precocious child actors, untamed cinematography, and soaring music. Apparently, Zeitlin even shot the movie on an island with an active volcano. None of this makes up for the dramatic lack of fun. Neverland is never a place without crisis and anxiety. I don’t think children after watching this movie would ever want to go there.

Peter is played by a boy named Yashua Mack. He has dreadlocks, a cool red coat, and a great screen presence. However, it is the sort of screen presence that is more unsettling than exciting. He lures adventurous children, including Wendy (played by Devin France) and her two brothers, onto a train, throws them off a bridge into the ocean, and then paddles them in a canoe to an island with a large active volcano. The kids have fun playing in the jungle for a while. Then one of the brothers dies. The other brother, now bereft of his best friend, starts physically transforming into an old person. This we are told is a condition of the island. If you do not have a best friend, you rapidly age. It is then revealed that on the other side of the island, amidst a ramshackle of decrepit buildings, lives a large group of old sick people. These were kids that Peter brought to the island before exiling them after they experienced a tragedy (i.e. lost their best friend) and were cursed to grow old. The cursed kids can’t even go back home because they would be unrecognizable to their parents. I’m not even sure they know how to go back home. Peter does not seem to care about any of this. Like I said, this is not fun.

The movie gets interesting halfway through the second act when Captain Hook shows up. Before that it is mostly uncomfortable. Captain Hook has a plan to kidnap the children, deprive them of their essence, and use it to become young again. Who would you like to win this fight? Captain Hook who was betrayed and robbed of his youth by Peter, or Peter who is an asshole.

The revision of the basic story extends most importantly to Wendy. Zeitlin in interviews has stated that he had feminist inclinations, that he did not like how the girl in the original story always depended on Peter and did not hold sway over the events of the story. Here, Wendy has a more active role, making decisions, coming up with ideas, and trying to persuade people. That’s nice, but it doesn’t make sense in this children’s story. The character Wendy is a girl true, but she is also a stand-in for the audience. It doesn’t make sense for the audience character to be responsible for fixing everything. Doing that takes the experience of being taken on a ride to a new, strange, and wonderful place and replaces it with a bunch of work. Peter isn’t of any help because boys are stinky and of no hlep. So, Wendy, bound by a feminist viewpoint, for all intents and purposes is the only adult in this movie. She isn't allowed to be a child. If you can’t be a child in Neverland, well, what is the point?

It took Benh Zeitlin an unconscionable eight years to make this movie. Beasts of the Southern Wild, an incredible feature debut, came out in 2012 and feels like ancient history. We have all become old waiting for Zeitlin’s next movie. Having seen “Wendy”, I’m not particularly looking forward to his next movie, which, given the man’s lack of productivity, may never happen. After Beasts of the Southern Wild, he was the new hot thing. Wendy will not make any headlines and Zeitlin may be forgotten by the time he makes another movie.