Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy is an adventure the entire family can enjoy with an inclusive cast and a sweet message of friendship. Check out the details in my parents guide movie review.
Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy releasing on the Disney+ streaming service today, April 28, 2023. The film stars Ever Anderson as Wendy Darling and Alexander Molony as Peter Pan, and the rest of the cast list includes Jude Law (Infamous Captain Hook), Yara Shahidi (Tinker Bell), Jim Gaffigan (Mr. Smee), Alyssa Wapanatâhk (Tiger Lily), Molly Parker (Mrs. Darling), Joshua Pickering (John Darling), Jacobi Jupe (Michael Darling), and the great Alan Tudyk (Mr. Darling). The film was adapted from the J. M. Barrie novel and directed by David Lowery, who is best known for his films The Green Knight, A Ghost Story, and Pete’s Dragon. Check out the details in my parents guide movie review.
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Peter Pan & Wendy Movie Quotes
Peter Pan & Wendy Parents Guide
In Peter Pan & Wendy: Wendy Darling, a young girl looking to avoid boarding school, meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Wendy, her brothers, and Tinker Bell travel with Peter to the magical world of Neverland, where she encounters an evil pirate captain.
Peter Pan & Wendy Age Rating Parents Guide
Let’s take a look at what parents need to know about the age rating of the movie before letting their younger children watch Peter Pan & Wendy.
Language: Peter Pan & Wendy contain appropriate language with no profanity. The strongest words viewers will come across are calling someone “codfish” or using the phrase “oh my g-d.”
Mature Content: The biggest concern for parents in the film is the violent scenes in it. In typical Peter Pan style, children are chased by Captain Hook, made to walk the plank, and threatened with execution; characters are kidnapped; arrows are shot at children; sword fighting occurs amongst characters; and a sword is placed at the throat of one character. There is a large, frightening crocodile that terrorizes characters and a death that may be very triggering to some viewers.
Age Rating of Peter Pan & Wendy: Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy has a PG rating for violence, peril, and thematic elements, and the parental guidelines advisory recommends it for an adult audience, younger adults, and teens aged 8 and older and family audiences. The suggestion of parental guidance or an adult guardian is highly suggested for young kids (or older kids) under 8 years of age in this PG-rated feature. The minimum age recommendation is 8 years old; it is not suitable for young children. There contains no sexual content.
Overall Thoughts
Disney’s Peter Pan & Wendy is a live-action adaptation of the Disney classic tale of a young boy who never grew up. Unlike past films, this new original story is from Wendy’s perspective as she and her younger brothers are taken to Never Land for a great adventure of a lifetime, gaining some very important lessons on friendship, acceptance, and responsibility. Considering this story is from the perspective of Wendy, expect plenty of female empowerment as actress Ever Anderson’s portrayal of Wendy is strong, opinionated, and an example to look up to. This retelling of the classic story and the darling children is filled with inclusion for gender, race, and special needs. Yes, this Disney movie has its first character with Down syndrome, which is a great representation of the world around us.
Peter Pan & Wendy’s new adaptation of the Peter Pan tale brings a new perspective to both Peter and Captain Hook, giving more humanity to the motivations of Captain James Hook and his relationship and past with Peter. Jude Law is solid in the role of Hook, bringing menace and a hint of heart. But it is Peter Pan’s character in the film that will either have viewers loving this live-action remake of Pete or hating how the story has changed. Either way, the new film is not just a retelling of the story we all know and love.
As far as visuals go, audiences have seen better CGI from Disney in other films, but that isn’t to say Peter Pan & Wendy lacked in that department. It just wasn’t what viewers have come to expect from the studio. Neverland is filled with magic, delight, with some beautiful landscapes to amaze the eyes. However, with a film that has been remade numerous times before, one would expect a studio like Disney to come out with a new version that would awe and amaze, but instead, it just wasn’t anything special to write home about.
Where Peter Pan & Wendy succeed is in the messages it carries to audiences about friendship, being there for one another, truly listening to each other, and taking responsibility for past mistakes. The film runs at 1 hour and 43 minutes, which seems to be just the right amount of time to tell an intriguing retelling without boring the audience with too much filler. There also seems to be a subplot surrounding Wendy and the Darling family that wasn’t explored, which is a shame considering this author would have loved to see more Alan Tudyk in the film. It was a good decision by Disney to have this story come to the Disney Plus streaming service instead of the big screen. While it is a fun film to watch at home with the entire family, it doesn’t have that extra bit of magic we are used to seeing from Disney.
