Peter Pan & Wendy’ Review

‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ Review: Jude Law and Yara Shahidi Star in David Lowery’s Empathetic Portrayal of Neverland
The 'Green Knight' and 'A Ghost Story' director helms the latest version of Disney's classic about the boy who refuses to grow up.

Peter Pan & Wendy, David Lowery’s humanizing interpretation of J.M. Barrie’s existential classic about the boy who refuses to grow up, speaks more to the inner child of jaded adults than it does to actual kids. This version of the fairytale grounds the fundamental wistfulness of the original tale with empathetic backstories and takes care to remedy the original’s overt racism and latent sexism.

Despite criticisms lodged at Lowery (The Green Knight) in the months leading up to this film’s release on Disney+, Peter Pan & Wendy keeps much intact. Lowery and his co-writer Toby Halbrooks have a firm grasp on the enduring qualities of Barrie’s story, which, as they correctly suggest throughout the film, has nothing to do with whether or not the gang of Lost Boys includes girls. Their rendition teases out the conflicts between Peter and Wendy, diversifies the mythic leader’s ragtag group and develops the indigenous people of Neverland into more realized characters. The duo, who collaborated on Lowery’s previous films, have created a fairytale of the present and for the future.