PAN: My Movie Review

Image from IMDB.com

Have you seen the movie Pan yet?  If you have, please feel free to comment and share your opinion, I'd love to hear it!  If not, please go see it and then come back and let me know what you thought!

Warning!  The following review does contain general information regarding the movie. Not outright spoilers, but limited opinions regarding characters, etc...If you still want to know read on! 

I have to say that I enjoyed this movie tremendously. There were a few items that were a bit out of place, such as the song that heralded Blackbeard’s appearance (Really?  A song by Nirvana instead of a traditional pirate chanty??) and the actor that played Hook seemed a bit fake and overly emotional, but generally it was a nice adaptation of a classic book.

What I really enjoyed was the theme of Peter trying to come to terms, and grow into, the person he was born to be. I think this echoes what I taught my son, that you don’t have to be someone else to be important, that you just need to accept yourself and work with who are, not who others want you to be. I realize that others might be put off by his lack of fighting, but I think it works. He’s an inexperienced little boy who knows nothing about fighting with a knife, or even his fists, so it should be expected that he would leave that type of fighting to those more experienced while he struggles to learn how to fly.

While the head nun was depicted in a bad light, I didn’t think it was too offensive or meant to reflect on the Catholic church as a whole. She was simply an end to a means, to show that the boys were living in a horrible situation, and I’m sure in those days the majority of orphanages were run by the church. Of course, as usual, there will be people who read way too much into her depiction, but it fit into the storyline and nicely set up the reason for the ending.

Tiger Lily was also a good fit. In the original movies, and book, her role was basically there for a love triangle with Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, which I always felt shortchanged her abilities. As a warrior princess, she should be trained to fight and take care of herself. Her fighting was neither offensive nor a big feminist flag, it was a woman who was fighting to preserve her way of life and save the lives of those she loved. With Hook otherwise engaged (needfully) and Peter naturally not experienced enough, she was the natural choice for the fight scenes.

I think that this movie gives both boys and girls the opportunity to realize how they are unique, each person is gifted with abilities and talents that don’t measure up to the world’s rules or standards regarding their gender. Both boys and girls can be strong, and that’s okay. What a great message to impart to our children!

In closing, I have to say that the colored smoke instead of bullets was genius! It gave it the much needed respite from the usual bloody gun battles so rampant in today’s movies. I also appreciated the lack of foul language and nudity to be a welcome change from the usual junk foisted upon our kids today.

Of course, this is not a Christian movie, so I did not expect it to be without the fairytale aspects. But I didn’t find it overtly magical or steeped in witchcraft as quite a few other children’s movies are. It was clearly fantasy, and as such, handled those magical moments perfectly.

In today's world it is getting increasingly difficult to find a movie that Christian families can attend, and I would say that if you are looking for a good, clean movie that Pan is one you bring the entire family to.

Rating:  PG

Length: 1 hour 51 minutes

I give it 4 out of 5 Happys!

For families with small children:  Please be aware that the pirates can look a little scary, although in my opinion they were dressed to be more realistic rather than comical, which made the story a bit more believable.  Also, there are the crocodiles, but they are only in the movie briefly.