Nick Willing

"Neverland" has a clever premise, combining the notion of a "Peter Pan" origin with some Oliver Twist-esque elements and an explanation for Neverland that is almost as much science fiction as it is fantasy. The cast is quite good, too (Ifans, Friel and Dance in particular stand out), and the visuals are very inventive and striking, even if the special effects can't always live up to the admirable design ambitions. What it's missing, really, is some more memorable dialogue. The scenes and character moments are all there, as are the performances, but the dialogue (while not bad) is not sufficiently funny, cool or dramatic to make the events stand properly out. It should also probably have been about 30 minutes shorter (the total running time is 2 hours and 40 minutes), as the pacing at times feel much less action-packed than it should. All in all a good way to spend a couple of hours for a Peter Pan fan (at least if you can stomach the 2011 TV-level of the special effects), but lacking that little something extra that would make it truly great and memorable.… (mehr)