[Movie Review] Neverland Part Two

My Thoughts on Part One

Directed and Written by Nick Willing
Cast:
Rhys Ifans as James Hook
Anna Friel as Pirate Captain Elizabeth
Charles Dance as Dr. Fludd
Q'orianka Kilcher as Aaya
Charlie Rowe as Peter Pan
Bob Hoskins as Smee
Keira Knightley  as the voice of Tinker Bell

Summary
The exciting conclusion of this second installment, started with the tree spirits carrying off Peter to their colony. The tree spirits dipped him in their magical pool where Peter as he swam from one end to exit on another opening, the short passage showed us that the waters healed Peter's injuries. The tree spirits also bestowed him powers due his innocence which the three elders (ruling body of the tree spirits) recognized and tasked Peter to find the orb so they can send the Pirates, Hook, the lost boys and Peter back to where they belong because their kind was  becoming a threat to tree spirits existence.

My thoughts
I won't leave you with a very long post for this one. Just the highlights.

Elder Fairy 1: Four thousands years lost in one night!Peter: I'm sorry. They tricked me.
Elder Fairy 1: You wanted to give them what we gave you. Please the one called, Hook. Allowed his greed and ambition to corrupt your innocent heart - Peter: I made a mistake.
Elder Fairy 2: A mistake that has cost us dearly. For that you must pay.Elder Fairy 1: You shall walk for the rest of eternity without any memory of who you are, where you came or  those you loved.Elder Fairy 2: Your innocence - the innocence we trust and recognized will be the only guide - raw and heartless.Elder Fairy 1: Listen carefully, you will feel great loss, grief...Elder Fairy 2: Torture, distress, heartache...

The fairy elders angered by the destruction of their colony handed down a heavy penalty to Peter which I transcribed above. Please excuse if there were missing words, I didn't transcribe this using my headset. Anyway, it was one of the highlights of the second installment for me. It gave me goosebumps and to so see the effect of the curse (below) it made sense why in the books Peter came across as too unaffected to be bothered and just wanted to have fun flying in and out of the clouds. It made me wonder if some bits of the elder fairy curse have latched on to Peter's character much later on that he didn't expect at all.

Throughout the two installments, Willing incorporated the right amount of details surrounding Peter's father and Hook's apparent friendship with the man. He also showed how sly a tongue Hook was. I thought Ifans did a fine job still injecting a subtle expression that we knew Hook was yet again twisting facts to his liking.

This 'friendship' made me imagine that perhaps Hook and Peter's father were the best mates in the arms trade and as luck have it, Jenny (might have first fallen for Hook) had finally grown tired of the life Hook was leading that she started to stay away from him. She opted to concentrate in playing the theater shows as Hook related to Peter. Jenny perhaps saw even the difference between Hook and the other man. He could have been the reason why Jenny further distanced herself  from Hook. Of course, as Hook said "...it was a fair duel."

I thought those tiny revelations gave enough of an emotional kick to the stomach. Rowe's portrayal of Peter who was coming to grips of what happened to his mother (from the first installment) was sucker-punched when Hook admitted he was the one who killed his father.  In the end of it all, a good wrap up to the prequel well, almost. *smiles*

Tottle's did ask what happened to Peter's shadow?  I found a good fanfic exploring where Neverland part two left off and all things in between.

[Movie Review] Neverland Part One

Directed and Written by Nick Willing
Cast:
Rhys Ifans as James Hook
Anna Friel as Pirate Captain Elizabeth
Charles Dance as Dr. Fludd
Q'orianka Kilcher as Aaya
Charlie Rowe as Peter Pan
Bob Hoskins as Smee
Keira Knightley  as the voice of Tinker Bell

Summary:
Raised on the streets of turn-of-the century London, orphaned Pete and his pals survived but their fearless wits as cunning young pickpockets. Now, they are rounded up by their mentor, Jimmy Hook to snatch a priceless, some believe,magical treasure which transports them to another world. Neverland is a realm of white jungles and legendary mysteries of eternal youth, where unknown friends and enemies snatched from time welcome the new travelers with both excitement and trepidation. These groups include a band of 18th century pirates led by the power-mad Elizabeth Bonny, and the Native American Kaw tribe led by a Holy Man, which has protected the secret of the tree spirits from Bonny and her gang for ages, and that has meant war. But as the fight to save this strange and beautiful world becomes vital, Hook, Peter, and the ragamuffin lost boys consider that growing old somewhere in time could be less important than growing up, right here in their new home called Neverland.


My Thoughts
This two-parter presentation held an interesting origins tale of a well-beloved fairy tale, Peter Pan. The movie jumped right in by showing us a mysterious hooded man, a tree spirit and two glowing meteorites that questions abound so fast to the point I couldn't help but let the action roll out. The opening  music held that bit of wonder  and  lent even the power these rushing meteorites have.

One thing that puzzled me was how the orb landed in the Spanish Main? The answer I could think of was 400 years back (a tinsy spoiler) Fludd must have an assistant then but unfortunately through the years lost the alpha orb (for the lack of the better description) that it found it's way to the Indian tribe  then the alpha orb traveled to the Spanish route where it found itself almost in the hands of Elizabeth and her pirate crew. The orb would have been a part of her booty had she not fired a shot on it that transported her and her crew elsewhere.