10 Simple Fixes That Would've Saved Terrible Recent Movies
3. Peter Pan & Wendy - Let David Lowery Make The Film He Wanted To Make
Peter Pan & Wendy is very much a film at war with itself, trying to be a faithful remake of the 1953 Disney animation and a darker, more experimental take on the story at the same time, ensuring that it fails to be either. It would appear that the latter is the movie that director David Lowery really wanted to make.
The film is said to have been a passion project for Lowery, and when it starts to reimagine the narrative and find new dimensions in the material, that is when it comes to life. Some of its narrative alterations, such as its deconstruction of the notion of Peter Pan (Alexander Maloney) as a hero, are really interesting, yet the film never quite commits to its intriguing vision and all too often falls back into being a paint-by-numbers copy of the (much better) Disney animation.
In this case, Disney execs just needed to take a step back and let Lowery make his movie. That's not to say that it definitely would've been good, but it would've at least felt like the product of one artistic voice making something he really wanted to make. That way, Peter Pan & Wendy would've felt like a more sincere, admirable venture, regardless of the final outcome.