He’s equally comedic and menacing at once, but not too menacing for young children to enjoy. Captain Hook serves as a great villain, balanced well between a vengeful, devious captain of the pirates and a complete coward when it comes to the crocodile. The father isn’t in the movie much, but he clearly cares for his children, even if he’s a bit harsh when it comes to shutting down their wild imaginations. Hans Conreid voices both Wendy’s father and Captain Hook. I can see why some people think she’s unlikeable, but in a way, she’s the most fascinating character, and she clearly learns the most out of everyone. There’s also Tinkerbell, who starts off the movie being very jealous of the special relationship Peter and Wendy seem to have, to the point where she’s willing to betray Peter, but she learns from her mistake by the end of the movie. He matures a bit over the course of the story, but he’s still in love with the fact that he’s leading a bunch of lost boys who will stay young as long as they remain in Neverland. Bobby Driscoll perfectly portrays Peter Pan as a young man who is unashamedly childish, resisting the idea of growing up as much as possible. She starts the movie off as not wanting to grow up, but as the movie goes on, she realizes that not only does she need to, but her younger brothers need her to. Kathryn Beaumont (who also voiced Alice in the previous movie), sounds a touch older and more mature as Wendy. There’s a great variety of characters, and the voice actors are clearly having fun with this movie. The music that shows up whenever the crocodile chases after Captain Hook is calm and sticks to the beat of the clock, with a touch of a comedic tone. The songs are upbeat, and while they feel like they belong in the 50’s, I mean that in a good way. It captures the fun and somewhat silly nature of the fight scenes well. The environments in Neverland are well-varied, colourful and they feel like they belong in a pure child’s fantasy movie. The mermaids look almost like they belong in Fantasia.

The humans on the other hand usually move realistically, save for the Indian chief’s insanely wide mouth. The animation behind the crocodile, moving in perfect synch with the clock inside him, is just fun and creative. There’s a touch of Dumbo’s high altitude land appearance, where if you’re high enough, Neverland kind of looks like a map. It did however utilize a lot of Disney’s earlier improvements. Unlike a lot of Disney’s previous animated features, Peter Pan didn’t revolutionize animation in any way. A few people criticized some of the changes in the story (it pretty much removed Peter Pan’s entire backstory), but I think that actually helps the overall flow, feel and mystery in the movie.

Moore sited the movie as part of his inspiration behind the Battlestar Galactica reboot in 2004. Michael Jackson referred to it as his favourite movie, and even named his ranch after Neverland. In fact, it’s one of the few movies in cinematic history that actually made more money in its second weekend than its first – almost doubling its weekend profit. Peter Pan was very successful upon release, both critically and commercially. He couldn’t acquire the rights for about 4 years, and that’s when the Second World War halted pretty much everything for his studio. Peter Pan was one of Walt Disney’s favourite stories, and he originally intended it to be his second feature film. Barrie, it stars a young boy who flies and resides in the magical Neverland. Based on the play “Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” by J.M. Although several previous Disney Animation features had adventure elements, 1953’s Peter Pan was Walt Disney’s first pure adventure film.

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