Pan

However, Wright’s film takes a slightly different tack than previous adaptations in choosing to tell the story of Peter Pan’s childhood before he arrived in Neverland. Pan, played by Levi Miller, is introduced growing up in a London orphanage run by a tyrannical psychopath. After being spirited away to Neverland one night, Pan begins to discover that he may not be an orphan after all, beginning a quest to find out who his parents were, and why he has ended up in Neverland.

Any film directed by Wright promises to be an incredibly beautiful affair, with the cinematography of Atonement, Pride And Prejudice and Anna Karenina being each film’s shining glory. Pan is no exception, as Wright uses his first foray into the 3D form to stun the audience, with wide-open shots of pirate ships traversing the imagined wilderness of Neverland.

Hugh Jackman is fantastic as the pirate Blackbeard, running a pit in which he uses child labour to mine for fairy dust. The only downside of Jackman’s performance is that there isn’t more of it, and he only really features heavily in the first half of the film. Garrett Hedlund is absolutely hilarious as a young Captain Hook, and chews up the scenery as a conglomeration of every character Harrison Ford has ever played. However, the real star of the film, and rightly so, is the young Miller as Pan himself.

Pan is a rollicking adventure that kids and parents alike will enjoy, and a good pick for school holiday watching.

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