Hugh Jackmanâs Pan movie is coming to America next month with a reimagined origin of J. M. Barrie’s classic childrenâs character, Peter Pan. Before Panâs inevitable Honest Trailer asks why Jackman is playing Blackbeard in that movie, the Honest Trailers team has turned their sights on Disneyâs beloved animated Peter Pan film from 1953.
âBelovedâ might be too strong of a word when examining Peter Pan from a modern perspective. For the era, the animation quality is quite nice, most of the main characters are memorable, and Captain Hook is still one of Disneyâs best villains. But this Honest Trailer pulls no punches when it comes to Peter Panâs many shortcomings…only after pointing out something that never seemed to occur to us before.
As noted in the video, the Darling children, Wendy, John, and Michael, look nothing like their father, and quite a bit like Peter Pan, whom Mrs. Darling states her belief in. Barrie actually left some evidence to support this theory, when Peter Pan returns decades later to take Wendyâs daughter, Jane, to Neverland…and Disney made that into the direct-to-DVD animated film Return to Never Land. So, itâs canon that Peter keeps coming back to visit Wendyâs family. Whether that other thing happened, is open to interpretation.
Itâs highly doubtful that Walt Disney and his animators ever came together and said, âletâs make sure that Peter Pan is as sexist and racist as possible!â Like most Disney films, Peter Pan is a product of its time. And yet, it really is shocking to see this Honest Trailer throw the spotlight on Peter Pan‘s glaring (to us now anyway) overtones. Not even switching the video to other Disney classics is enough to hide from that!
Disney fans, how do you feel about the Peter Pan Honest Trailer? Blow away the pixie dust and share your opinion below!
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Image Credit: Disney/Screen Junkies