Return to Never Land

Return to Never Land

A silhouette of Peter Pan was shown in a green background casting a glow.

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Robin Budd
Donovan Cook (co-director)
Produced by Cheryl Abood
Christopher Chase
Michelle Pappalardo-Robinson
Dan Rounds
Written by Temple Mathews (screenplay)
Carter Crocker (additional material)
Based on Characters created
by J.M. Barrie
Starring Blayne Weaver
Harriet Owen
Corey Burton
Jeff Bennett
Narrated by Clive Revill
Music by They Might Be Giants
Joel McNeely
Edited by Antonio F. Rocco
Production
company
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
  • February 10, 2002 (2002-02-10) (premiere)
  • February 15, 2002 (2002-02-15) (wide)
Running time
 72 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $20 million
Box office $109.9 million

Return to Never Land (also known as Peter Pan 2 or Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land) is a 2002 American animated fantasy film and the sequel to Peter Pan (1953), produced by DisneyToon Studios in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on J. M. Barrie's novel Peter and Wendy, and had a worldwide box office of $109 million.[1]

The film follows a girl who refuses to believe in her mother's story during the Blitz in London, only to be mistakenly brought to Neverland by the pirates. In order for her to get home, she meets Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys who encourage her to fly and make her believe.

Plot

While the people evacuated to take shelters in the Blitz, Jane Darling is Wendy's daughter who refuses to believe in stories about Peter Pan. She is mistakenly abducted by Captain Hook and his crew, who sail through the sky on their pixie-dust-enchanted ship, evade an air raid alert and escape back to Neverland.

There, Hook plans to feed Jane to the octopus (who replaced Tick-Tock the Crocodile) in order to lure Peter into a trap. However, Peter rescues Jane and Hook escapes from the octopus, returning to the ship. After recognizing and asking Jane to follow Wendy's footstep, Peter takes her to his hideout to be the mother of the Lost Boys, but Jane refuses and gets stranded. They fail to teach Jane how to fly, before Jane does not believe in fairies and Tinker Bell gets sick. Hook tricks Jane into lying that he would not harm Peter and she agrees to help him find the treasure. Hook gives Jane a whistle and leaves.

She asks Peter and the boys to play a game of "treasure hunt", and they wish Jane to believe in fairies and save Tinker Bell. As Jane finds the treasure and changes her mind into discarding the whistle, the boys make her the "Lost Girl" before Tootles finds and inadvertently blows the whistle. As the pirates arrive and capture the boys, Peter warns Jane that Tinker Bell is dying. Jane seemingly mourns for Tinker Bell, but she revives. They head to the ship and see Hook forcing Peter to walk the plank. With the help of "faith, trust and pixie dust", Jane learns to fly and saves Peter, who sinks the ship by sending Hook through many floors with the anchor. The pirates ride on a rowboat, and the octopus, believing them as fishes, pursue them.

While Jane learns how to fly, she says goodbye to the boys and Peter escorts her home. As Jane reconciles with Danny, Peter and Tinker Bell meet Wendy again, before saying goodbye. As Edward returns home to reunite with his family, Peter and Tinker Bell fly back to Neverland.

Voice cast

Unlike the original film, new actors and characters replace them for the sequel. Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced Wendy in the original, recorded all of her dialogues for the sequel, but Kath Soucie replaced her.[2]

Differences from the novel

The final chapter of Barrie's Peter and Wendy briefly introduces Wendy as an adult, and her daughter Jane, serving as the premise for Return to Never Land. In Peter and Wendy, Peter returns to take Wendy back to Neverland for their annual spring cleaning, but finds that many years have now passed and that she is now a grown woman with a daughter, Jane. The heartbroken Peter's mood changes when Jane offers to go in place of Wendy, and Jane now becomes his new mother.

Jane is tomboyish in the film, while Barrie's character agreed to play the part of Wendy without question. In the film, Jane refuses to believe in Wendy's stories about Peter Pan, but Hook brings Jane to Neverland. In the book, Jane is eager to believe in Peter Pan, and she meets and flies away with Peter like Wendy (but with Wendy's knowledge and permission). Wendy's son Danny and husband Edward did not appear in the novel.

It is set after the events of the Disney film rather than the novel. In the sequel film, Captain Hook was not killed by the crocodile, and Tinker Bell has not died as explained by Barrie. In the novel, the Lost Boys returned to London with Wendy and grew up like normal children, but in Return to Never Land they have stayed as young as Peter Pan himself. However, they are all somewhat different characters than they were in the original film. Like the pirates, they have become even less serious and far less competent, designed almost completely for comical purposes only. The sequel also deviates from the original film in claiming that Wendy's adventures with Peter ended with Peter and Wendy calling out their final farewells to each other as Peter sails away in Hook's ship. In the original film, no indication is given that such a scene took place, and the story ends with Wendy and her parents watching the ship sail away as her father, in awe, has a revelation that he remembers it from his own childhood.

Soundtrack

Joel McNeely composed the music for the film.

Track listing

  1. "Do You Believe in Magic?"
  2. "Main Title"
  3. "Second Star to the Right"
  4. "Tale of Pan"
  5. "I'll Try"
  6. "Jane Is Kidnapped"
  7. "Childhood Lost"
  8. "Here We Go Another Plan"
  9. "Summoning the Octopus/Pan Saves Jane"
  10. "Flight Through Never Land"
  11. "So to Be One of Us"
  12. "Meet the Lost Boys"
  13. "Now That You're One of Us"
  14. "Longing for Home"
  15. "Hook and the Lost Boys"
  16. "Hook Deceives Jane"
  17. "Jane Finds the Treasure"
  18. "Pan Is Captured"
  19. "I'll Try (Reprise)"
  20. "Jane Saves Tink and Pan"
  21. "Jane Can Fly"
  22. "Flying Home"
  23. "Reunion"

Reception

The film opened at the third position at the box office behind Crossroads and John Q. Return to Never Land grossed $48.4 million domestically and $61.4 million overseas, for an approximate worldwide gross of $109.9 million. With an estimated budget of $20 million, the film made a modestly successful theatrical release. It was before DVD sales, which had been the initially planned market for the film. Critical reaction was mixed, with a total score of 45% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus: "With its forgettable songs and lackluster story, this new Pan will surely entertain kids, but will feel more like a retread to adults."[3]

Accolades

Spencer Breslin was nominated for a 2003 Young Artist Award as Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role at the 24th Young Artist Awards.[4][5][6]

Home media

Return to Never Land was released on DVD and VHS in August 2002, and it took in only lukewarm sales. The version went out of print in January 2003. In November 2007, the film was released in a "Pixie-Powered Edition" and was also released in a Peter Pan trilogy, along with the Peter Pan Platinum Edition and Tinker Bell in December 2008. The Pixie-Powered edition went out of print in January 2009.[7] The film was released on Blu-ray in August 2013, after the first Blu-ray release of Peter Pan.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Animated Views: Beaumont and Kerry: Peter Pan’s Leading Ladies, interview with Kathryn Beaumont
  3. ↑ https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/return_to_never_land/
  4. ↑
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Ultimate Disney's Out Of Print DVD List.

External links

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