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Return to Neverland
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // G // August 20, 2002
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
Peter Pan: Return to Neverland has an interesting story behind it. Originally it was planned for a direct-to-video release, much like Toy Story 2. Also much like the latter, it was deemed to come out in theaters instead. Unlike Toy Story 2, Return to Neverland was not given quite as much money to make changes to make it look more like a motion picture than a direct-to-video release. Instead of building from the ground up (because of money issues), they just added a few cool pieces to the original story. In some ways Disney should have just left it as a direct-to-video release instead of going the full-blown movie route. They saw a lull in movies early this year and took advantage of it.
Somewhat like Hook, Return to Neverland starts off many years after the first movie. Unlike Hook, Peter Pan is still in Neverland. Wendy has grown up and has had a couple children. The story centers on her daughter Jane. Jane does not believe Wendy and all her wild stories about Neverland and Peter Pan. Captain Hook comes and kidnaps Jane, thinking she is Wendy. Jane soon finds out that Neverland is actually real and that what her mom told her was not some fantastical story.
Jane, of course, wants to go back to her home in England, but Peter Pan eventually brings her around to how great Neverland can actually be. There are a lot of contrived ideas in this movie. A lot of them come directly out of the original animated film and even Hook itself. While Peter Pan is bringing Jane around and making Jane believe in fairies again, Captain Hook is busy trying to find Pan and steal his treasure. This movie is an extension of the original, much like some other direct-to-video Disney features like Little Mermaid II and Lion King II, which all seem to follow the adventures of a child of the original main character. This movie probably would have done better if they had thought about a whole new story involving Wendy instead of her daughter in a semi-mirror image story. Then again, I suck up any Disney film I can find.
Return to Neverland is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but then again it is not the greatest either. I would say it is at about the same level as the two movies I mentioned in the paragraph right above.
The DVD
Video: This film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. You can tell what parts were added with the extra money given to the creators for the theatrical release, but you can also tell what the film looked like before the additions. The animation is basic Disney weekday TV shows like Buzz Lightyear and Tarzan. The new stuff is wonderful as it uses some 3D elements in it (like Captain Hook's ship) and gives the movie more of a polish than it would have in a straight-to-video format. In some ways it is good it got the theatrical treatment and in some ways it is bad.
I noticed no flaws in the presentation and the colors were very vibrant like most Disney films on DVD. Overall the video is very good outside of the standard Disney TV animation with little to no depth.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The track is not especially powerful, but there are some uses of the rear surround speakers. The sound is very clean and I had no problems with it. The voices used in this feature were quite good.
Menus: An animated menu…nothing special.
Extras: Not too much here, which is not surprising. An interactive adventure game, two deleted scenes, a storybook and a music video for the main song "I'll Try".
Final Thoughts: Peter Pan: Return to Neverland is not a horrendous film. It is just a confusing film. Its change from direct-to-video to motion picture status and the extra animation that was put in because of it makes this film somewhat schizophrenic from an animation perspective. Children will still enjoy Neverland because they would not be as picky as we are about such things. I can easily recommend this for children and for people that want to see another chapter in the Peter Pan universe. Recommended
Peter Pan: Return to Neverland has an interesting story behind it. Originally it was planned for a direct-to-video release, much like Toy Story 2. Also much like the latter, it was deemed to come out in theaters instead. Unlike Toy Story 2, Return to Neverland was not given quite as much money to make changes to make it look more like a motion picture than a direct-to-video release. Instead of building from the ground up (because of money issues), they just added a few cool pieces to the original story. In some ways Disney should have just left it as a direct-to-video release instead of going the full-blown movie route. They saw a lull in movies early this year and took advantage of it.
Somewhat like Hook, Return to Neverland starts off many years after the first movie. Unlike Hook, Peter Pan is still in Neverland. Wendy has grown up and has had a couple children. The story centers on her daughter Jane. Jane does not believe Wendy and all her wild stories about Neverland and Peter Pan. Captain Hook comes and kidnaps Jane, thinking she is Wendy. Jane soon finds out that Neverland is actually real and that what her mom told her was not some fantastical story.
Jane, of course, wants to go back to her home in England, but Peter Pan eventually brings her around to how great Neverland can actually be. There are a lot of contrived ideas in this movie. A lot of them come directly out of the original animated film and even Hook itself. While Peter Pan is bringing Jane around and making Jane believe in fairies again, Captain Hook is busy trying to find Pan and steal his treasure. This movie is an extension of the original, much like some other direct-to-video Disney features like Little Mermaid II and Lion King II, which all seem to follow the adventures of a child of the original main character. This movie probably would have done better if they had thought about a whole new story involving Wendy instead of her daughter in a semi-mirror image story. Then again, I suck up any Disney film I can find.
Return to Neverland is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but then again it is not the greatest either. I would say it is at about the same level as the two movies I mentioned in the paragraph right above.
The DVD
Video: This film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. You can tell what parts were added with the extra money given to the creators for the theatrical release, but you can also tell what the film looked like before the additions. The animation is basic Disney weekday TV shows like Buzz Lightyear and Tarzan. The new stuff is wonderful as it uses some 3D elements in it (like Captain Hook's ship) and gives the movie more of a polish than it would have in a straight-to-video format. In some ways it is good it got the theatrical treatment and in some ways it is bad.
I noticed no flaws in the presentation and the colors were very vibrant like most Disney films on DVD. Overall the video is very good outside of the standard Disney TV animation with little to no depth.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The track is not especially powerful, but there are some uses of the rear surround speakers. The sound is very clean and I had no problems with it. The voices used in this feature were quite good.
Menus: An animated menu…nothing special.
Extras: Not too much here, which is not surprising. An interactive adventure game, two deleted scenes, a storybook and a music video for the main song "I'll Try".
Final Thoughts: Peter Pan: Return to Neverland is not a horrendous film. It is just a confusing film. Its change from direct-to-video to motion picture status and the extra animation that was put in because of it makes this film somewhat schizophrenic from an animation perspective. Children will still enjoy Neverland because they would not be as picky as we are about such things. I can easily recommend this for children and for people that want to see another chapter in the Peter Pan universe. Recommended
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