Peter Pan
Director: P.J. Hogan
Cast: Jeremy Sumpter, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Jason Isaacs, Ludivina Signer, Olivia Williams, Freddie Popplewell, Lynn Redgrave, Harry Newell, Harry Eden, Richard Briers, Carsen Grey, George Mackay, Patrick Gooch, Lachlan Gooch, Theodore Chester, Rupert Simonian, Saffron Burrows
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime stories of swordplay, swashbuckling, and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) flies into their nursery window, one night, and takes the children away to Neverland; a magical island, second star to the right, and straight on till morning, where children will never grow up, and where Wendy can be there mother and tell them stories forever. Once there, however, Wendy and her brothers are kidnapped by Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs), and Peter must battle Hook, to save Wendy and the others from certain death.
One of the most powerful themes woven throughout this story, is that of the kiss, and while the kiss is illustrated in three different ways in the film, all three are connected to the character of Wendy Darling. Indeed, the kiss is the catalyst which connects Wendy to the two most precious people in her world: her mother and Peter Pan.
When we are introduced to the Darling family, the narrator reveals that Wendy’s mother, Mrs. Darling, was the most beautiful woman in Bloomsbury, and she has a sweet, mocking mouth, with one kiss conspicuously hidden in the right-hand corner, and this was the one kiss, that Wendy could never get from her mother. When Wendy is telling her story to her family, her Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) has Wendy stand before her, so that her aunt may appraise Wendy…and she reveals to the family that Wendy’s mouth also has a kiss hidden in the right-hand corner, as well. When she reveals this, we see Wendy touch her kiss, and Ms. Darling mirrors this, her hands caressing her own kiss. When Wendy asks what this kiss is for, her aunt tells Wendy that the kiss’s purpose is two-fold. The kiss is significant, because it means that Wendy is leaving her childhood behind her, and she is becoming a woman…and the kiss also symbolizes the moment when a woman finds her true love.
I believe the first hint that Wendy’s hidden kiss belongs to Peter Pan is illustrated when Peter Pan visits the nursery for the second time, in secret, and he is watching Wendy sleep. His hand caresses the place where the hidden kiss is, as he watches her sleep. For Wendy and Peter, their hidden kiss is reflected in the “kisses” they give each other in the nursery – the acorn from Peter, and the thimble from Wendy. When Peter visits the Darling home, again, on the night that he takes Wendy and her brothers away to Neverland, Wendy tells Peter that she wants to give him a “kiss,” but she gives him a thimble, instead. When she does, Peter asks Wendy if she wants him to give her a kiss now, and while Wendy does turn her cheek to receive Peter’s kiss, he, instead, gives her an acorn, which she wears on a necklace, as a token of Peter’s affection for her. When Wendy tries again to kiss Peter, this time saying she wants to give him a “thimble,” Tink responds with jealous fury, and tells Peter than if Wendy tries to kiss him again, Tinkerbell will kill Wendy.
When Peter and the children arrive in Neverland, Wendy is separated from her brothers, and Tinkerbell tricks Peter’s Lost Boys into believing that Peter wants them to “shoot the Wendy Bird” with their arrows. When they gather around Wendy’s fallen form, and Tootles confesses his sin to Peter…that his arrow caused Wendy to fall, all hope seems lost for Wendy…until Peter realizes that the arrow struck against the kiss that he gave Wendy, and it was his kiss that had spared her life. When Peter is lying, bested, and broken, on the deck of the Jolly Roger, after battling with Captain Hook, Hook allows Wendy to bid Peter farewell. Wendy tells Peter “this belongs to you…and always will.” When Captain Hook catches Wendy’s hand to stop her, Wendy tells him that her gift is merely a thimble…but when Hook releases Wendy, she gives Peter her special hidden kiss. When the kiss was finished, even the other children recognized that this was Wendy’s hidden kiss…and that the kiss was a very powerful thing, indeed, restoring Peter’s life to him, and allowing Peter to finish his last battle with Hook.
Growing up is a powerful theme in this film, and as with the kiss, growing up is also the catalyst which connects and entwines Peter Pan and Wendy…only this time, rather than bringing them together as one, this notion causes their paths to diverge from one another. Peter tells Wendy that he doesn’t know how old he is, because he ran away from home on the day he was born. He had overheard his parents discussing what he was to become when he grew up, and he wanted always to be a little boy, and have fun, so he left his family and ran away to Kensington Gardens, where he met Tinkerbell, and eventually journeyed with her to Neverland, to remain an eternal child. When Peter and Wendy are dancing, Peter asks Wendy if its only “make-believe” that he is a father to their adopted children…because he would feel so old, being a father, if this was the truth. When Wendy asks Peter to confess his feelings for her, she names off the emotions, but while he connects the feelings of jealousy to Tinkerbell and anger to Hook, when Wendy mentions love, Peter vehemently denies that he has ever felt love, and he tells Wendy to go home and grow up and take her feelings with her. In the end, Captain Hook asks Wendy for one last story – the story of Peter Pan. When he asks her why Peter needed a Wendy, she tells him it is because Peter liked Wendy’s stories…but it is the singular detail that entwines the stories – all of them ending in a kiss – that makes Captain Hook realize that Peter does have feelings in his heart…for Wendy. And though Hook tells Peter that Wendy doesn’t return his feelings, the tears in Wendy’s eyes when Peter is looking up at her, and the kiss that she gives him, says otherwise…that Wendy does, indeed, love Peter.
The connection between mother and child is a powerful theme in this film; one that is particularly shared between Wendy and her mother, and Wendy and her ‘boys’ when she embarks on her journey to Neverland. When Peter is tempting the children to come away to Neverland, after he teaches them to fly, it is the thought of her mother that makes Wendy reluctant to leave. When Wendy arrives in Neverland, the Lost Boys build a house around Wendy, and when she wakes up, they ask Wendy to be their mother…and though she is hesitant at first, having no genuine experience in being a mother, the boys assure her that because Wendy is a storyteller, she will make a perfect mother. When Peter returns, in secret, to the Darling home, to see if Wendy’s parents had closed the window, he sees Wendy’s mother, asleep in the nursery chair, and even in her dreams, it is Wendy’s name that she calls out. Wendy’s mother is also the catalyst which compels Wendy to leave Neverland and return to her home…because her brothers are beginning to believe that she – Wendy - is their real mother, and she has forgotten her parents, as well. She tells her brothers that they must return home, before she and her brothers are forgotten, as well. In the end, Wendy’s mother not only rekindles her mother-bond with her own children, but she also becomes a mother to the Lost Boys, as well.
© 2022 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: P.J. Hogan
Cast: Jeremy Sumpter, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Jason Isaacs, Ludivina Signer, Olivia Williams, Freddie Popplewell, Lynn Redgrave, Harry Newell, Harry Eden, Richard Briers, Carsen Grey, George Mackay, Patrick Gooch, Lachlan Gooch, Theodore Chester, Rupert Simonian, Saffron Burrows
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling (Rachel Hurd-Wood) mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime stories of swordplay, swashbuckling, and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) flies into their nursery window, one night, and takes the children away to Neverland; a magical island, second star to the right, and straight on till morning, where children will never grow up, and where Wendy can be there mother and tell them stories forever. Once there, however, Wendy and her brothers are kidnapped by Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs), and Peter must battle Hook, to save Wendy and the others from certain death.
One of the most powerful themes woven throughout this story, is that of the kiss, and while the kiss is illustrated in three different ways in the film, all three are connected to the character of Wendy Darling. Indeed, the kiss is the catalyst which connects Wendy to the two most precious people in her world: her mother and Peter Pan.
When we are introduced to the Darling family, the narrator reveals that Wendy’s mother, Mrs. Darling, was the most beautiful woman in Bloomsbury, and she has a sweet, mocking mouth, with one kiss conspicuously hidden in the right-hand corner, and this was the one kiss, that Wendy could never get from her mother. When Wendy is telling her story to her family, her Aunt Millicent (Lynn Redgrave) has Wendy stand before her, so that her aunt may appraise Wendy…and she reveals to the family that Wendy’s mouth also has a kiss hidden in the right-hand corner, as well. When she reveals this, we see Wendy touch her kiss, and Ms. Darling mirrors this, her hands caressing her own kiss. When Wendy asks what this kiss is for, her aunt tells Wendy that the kiss’s purpose is two-fold. The kiss is significant, because it means that Wendy is leaving her childhood behind her, and she is becoming a woman…and the kiss also symbolizes the moment when a woman finds her true love.
I believe the first hint that Wendy’s hidden kiss belongs to Peter Pan is illustrated when Peter Pan visits the nursery for the second time, in secret, and he is watching Wendy sleep. His hand caresses the place where the hidden kiss is, as he watches her sleep. For Wendy and Peter, their hidden kiss is reflected in the “kisses” they give each other in the nursery – the acorn from Peter, and the thimble from Wendy. When Peter visits the Darling home, again, on the night that he takes Wendy and her brothers away to Neverland, Wendy tells Peter that she wants to give him a “kiss,” but she gives him a thimble, instead. When she does, Peter asks Wendy if she wants him to give her a kiss now, and while Wendy does turn her cheek to receive Peter’s kiss, he, instead, gives her an acorn, which she wears on a necklace, as a token of Peter’s affection for her. When Wendy tries again to kiss Peter, this time saying she wants to give him a “thimble,” Tink responds with jealous fury, and tells Peter than if Wendy tries to kiss him again, Tinkerbell will kill Wendy.
When Peter and the children arrive in Neverland, Wendy is separated from her brothers, and Tinkerbell tricks Peter’s Lost Boys into believing that Peter wants them to “shoot the Wendy Bird” with their arrows. When they gather around Wendy’s fallen form, and Tootles confesses his sin to Peter…that his arrow caused Wendy to fall, all hope seems lost for Wendy…until Peter realizes that the arrow struck against the kiss that he gave Wendy, and it was his kiss that had spared her life. When Peter is lying, bested, and broken, on the deck of the Jolly Roger, after battling with Captain Hook, Hook allows Wendy to bid Peter farewell. Wendy tells Peter “this belongs to you…and always will.” When Captain Hook catches Wendy’s hand to stop her, Wendy tells him that her gift is merely a thimble…but when Hook releases Wendy, she gives Peter her special hidden kiss. When the kiss was finished, even the other children recognized that this was Wendy’s hidden kiss…and that the kiss was a very powerful thing, indeed, restoring Peter’s life to him, and allowing Peter to finish his last battle with Hook.
Growing up is a powerful theme in this film, and as with the kiss, growing up is also the catalyst which connects and entwines Peter Pan and Wendy…only this time, rather than bringing them together as one, this notion causes their paths to diverge from one another. Peter tells Wendy that he doesn’t know how old he is, because he ran away from home on the day he was born. He had overheard his parents discussing what he was to become when he grew up, and he wanted always to be a little boy, and have fun, so he left his family and ran away to Kensington Gardens, where he met Tinkerbell, and eventually journeyed with her to Neverland, to remain an eternal child. When Peter and Wendy are dancing, Peter asks Wendy if its only “make-believe” that he is a father to their adopted children…because he would feel so old, being a father, if this was the truth. When Wendy asks Peter to confess his feelings for her, she names off the emotions, but while he connects the feelings of jealousy to Tinkerbell and anger to Hook, when Wendy mentions love, Peter vehemently denies that he has ever felt love, and he tells Wendy to go home and grow up and take her feelings with her. In the end, Captain Hook asks Wendy for one last story – the story of Peter Pan. When he asks her why Peter needed a Wendy, she tells him it is because Peter liked Wendy’s stories…but it is the singular detail that entwines the stories – all of them ending in a kiss – that makes Captain Hook realize that Peter does have feelings in his heart…for Wendy. And though Hook tells Peter that Wendy doesn’t return his feelings, the tears in Wendy’s eyes when Peter is looking up at her, and the kiss that she gives him, says otherwise…that Wendy does, indeed, love Peter.
The connection between mother and child is a powerful theme in this film; one that is particularly shared between Wendy and her mother, and Wendy and her ‘boys’ when she embarks on her journey to Neverland. When Peter is tempting the children to come away to Neverland, after he teaches them to fly, it is the thought of her mother that makes Wendy reluctant to leave. When Wendy arrives in Neverland, the Lost Boys build a house around Wendy, and when she wakes up, they ask Wendy to be their mother…and though she is hesitant at first, having no genuine experience in being a mother, the boys assure her that because Wendy is a storyteller, she will make a perfect mother. When Peter returns, in secret, to the Darling home, to see if Wendy’s parents had closed the window, he sees Wendy’s mother, asleep in the nursery chair, and even in her dreams, it is Wendy’s name that she calls out. Wendy’s mother is also the catalyst which compels Wendy to leave Neverland and return to her home…because her brothers are beginning to believe that she – Wendy - is their real mother, and she has forgotten her parents, as well. She tells her brothers that they must return home, before she and her brothers are forgotten, as well. In the end, Wendy’s mother not only rekindles her mother-bond with her own children, but she also becomes a mother to the Lost Boys, as well.
© 2022 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.