Many a times people wonder, which is the best batman out there? I often times wonder that myself. I don't want to just think one is better than the rest, but there is ALWAYS that one that stands out to someone. To me, I would like to discuss which among the many versions of Peter Pan is the best! It's difficult to choose just one too.
To start off, I would like to exclude the books because to compare Peter Pan to himself is a little backwards in thinking. No, I would like to compare the best Peter Pans of movies, tv shows, and cartoons. Which Peter Pan was the bravest, the strongest, the one that touches your heart, makes you feel more cheerful and most believable hero that would make the original author proud? Not only that, we will discuss supporting cast! We can't forget what makes Peter Pan is Wendy, Hook, and the Lost Boys. It's all about who spoke out to everyone! Or, in this case, me. This is just my opinion sadly. It won't be law.
Sadly I cannot speak for every version of Peter Pan. I missed this live action showing back in 2014 so I can't give it a proper judgement. And I certainly will NOT watch the burbank cheap knock off of 1988. So sadly, not every version can be spoken otherwise I'd be here all night. So bear with me as I give judgements on the ones I'm familiar with and I might want to narrow down the list to just six.
Now with that in mind, let's fly off on the list!
Number Six, Peter Pan and the Pirates, 1991.
I sadly did not grow up with this version. A friend of mine did however and he swears on his mama's favorite gardening tool that it's the best version of Peter Pan he’s ever seen. I took up the challenge and watched the series. Now to be fair, the animation is very fluid (as it was animated by Fox Studios at the time), and the stories in each episode were actually very creative. The opening sequence shows exactly what you’re in for- adventure and magical shenanigans within Neverland.
Being a 90's series however, it does have its problems. Starting with Peter Pan himself. Most of the time hearing the boy speak all I heard was the infamous Link from the animated Zelda series of the 1980s. Hell, the closest line I got from him was in the first episode when he said, “Well excuse me, your highness!” Perfect...
Peter Pan was just early enough in the 90's to be mistaken for an 80's character with that long pony tail. Now in the beginning he may rub you the wrong way for being obnoxious, but one does have to remember...this is Peter Pan. The spirit of youth! And the show actually does a pretty good job to uphold that feeling. There were times when watching him go on adventures or hype up everyone to join him on one, I was feeling the hype as well sometimes. However as the episodes went on, it felt most of the problems that happened were either Peter's fault or someone just had it out for someone else. There’s always someone trying to be mean to another. Always! But I’ll get to that later.
While I can get Peter is just a boy and most boys can be selfish and rude and self righteous, his \actions take things way too far and loses all meaning of being a “hero”. There were times when even the cartoon itself points out how obnoxious Peter could be. So I'm not the only one who noticed.
And to be frank, Peter can be a dick. In an episode of Hook being sad he is celebrating another birthday of being older, Peter decides to play a prank on him. When Peter overhears Hook speak about this to his second in command, Smee, Peter speaks to Smee to follow him to a spring. He tricks the pirate into thinking it gives eternal youth. Later on, the water is fed to a bird, to which Peter switches out for an egg and the captain falls for the prank and goes to the spring, only to find it was a trap! He gets trapped in a hole while Peter dresses up Michael as baby Hook, endangering him to go back with the pirates to boss them around. Why? Because “it would be funny” so he says. Then when the pirates find that they don't need to follow around a baby, they do mutiny and planned to kill Michael and Smee. Captain Hook thankfully returns and Peter of course saves the day, but it was Smee who helped Michael escape oddly enough, still thinking it was the Captain being a baby. The episode ends with Peter on top, and no lesson learned. All in all...Peter's a dick.
All this on a man's birthday while throwing in the youngest boy into a horde of villains. And that wasn't even the first time he's done something like that! Michael was hoping to have a birthday, but Peter stops it from happening by any means possible by stopping the moon from setting so that the day never comes and ruins a birthday party.
Now granted, yes, Peter is suppose to be selfish. He thinks of his next big adventure and what gives him the most laughs. I get that. But for someone who is a leader, he sure does more harm than good at times. Half the time he's a hero because he flies the fastest among the lost boys.
The rest of the cast are pretty forgettable. The lost boys are typical lackey boys, Wendy is pretty much a nanny that speaks up to say things in a nagging tone, with tiger lily being a tricking girl with her brother. Half the time when something is happening, they don’t really speak and just watch as something good plays out before them. In the end, it's up to Tinkerbell of all people to keep everyone afloat. Which is appreciable, otherwise this whole cartoon would be nothing but annoying voices yelling at each other because there’s some problem with someone every day. Tinkerbell is likable as a character and in the end of the series is actually the true hero that saves Peter Pan. Long story short, Peter actually grows up to be an old man and it was Tinkerbell that reminds him of who he is. Oh yes, the show actually touches up on Peter Pan grows up to be an old man. I thought how interesting a concept that would be! The consequences were as bad as you can imagine as well. If Peter Pan grows up, Neverland dies. It's a great concept.
Except...
This episode showed how much of an idiot Peter Pan can be. The “clever boy” clearly isn’t here!
What made my jaw drop to the floor was in an episode called “Hooks Deadly Game”. It starts right off the bat with Peter trapping Hook and was going to stab him with a sling shot that would shoot giant bamboo spikes. Among all the Peter Pan’s I’ve seen, THIS was possibly the most horrifying. He cuts ropes one by one so that each bamboo narrowly missed Captain Hook, almost toying with him. It felt like a scene from Saw than anything else!
Yes, Peter Pan has no shame, has no conduct, but he has MORALS. He would chop off a hand but to plan out something as elaborate as to trap someone with ropes just to flat out kill someone? Think about it. Peter Pan has to sit down with the lost boys before and spoke to them about how he’d have to lure Captain Hook, pretend to trip, have the others throw rope around the man, tie him against a tree, and Peter Pan would pull off a sheet of a machine that was built and set up on the spot. It's straight from a Batman and Joker comic book! Even Joker would be impressed with this. Even someone like Captain Hook, Peter still outnumbered him and held him down as he would act like he was “cleaning Neverland an evil tyrant”. Excuse me when I have to question this scene for a good long while.
In the end, Captain Hook uses his wits to get out with, now get this, the words “You’d never be a man”. At first I thought it was a pathetic attempt to trick the boys to stopping Peter, but no. THAT stopped Peter Pan to regret his whole life. Peter stopped cutting ropes and walked away angrily because Hook was right. Well of course he was, but the whole point of Peter Pan is he never wants to grow up. There is NOTHING he would want being an adult. He is a kid that wants to play forever. That is the point.
Of all things, Peter never would have thought twice on these words but apparently, it was enough of an impact to scare him to think he was missing out on being a grown up. If anything, the real words that should have scared him was “Are you man enough to kill me”. THAT would have been a more believable line to scare Peter Pan. Or how about a line about “This is poor conduct and you are a coward for not coming to me face to face” and prepared a final showdown. For Hook to be the tricking bastard, it makes more sense! But it doesn’t even end there...
No, as Peter grows up, he spews out he doesn’t believe in fairies or magic, flat out says it to Tinkerbell’s face. Literally on her knees begging him to believe as she dies and says all of Neverland is dying! He just laughs and walks away saying “I’m bored I want to hang out with people my own age”. I don’t care if he was growing up, how can he just forget who Tinkerbell was just because he was growing up? What logic is that? Why does he say this? What made him think differently when Tinkerbell was the one asking him these questions flying right in front of his face? Never explained. He just doesn’t like them.
Peter Pan is stupid to let the idea to grow up get into his head to begin with, but to say not believe in magic? Watching as all of Neverland spirals everything to fall apart and things literally die because of his words? Yeah, that’s more cruel and savage than Hook. And Hook actually says “Of course I believe in fairies, you’re right in front of me”. Of all people, it was Hook who saves Tinkerbell because even as a villain, he can see with his own eyes. Pan is just an idiot in comparison.
Overall, it was confusing and off putting. It was the most appalling thing to imagine that Peter Pan would do this at all. A boy that would give his honor in battle and fight fairly and fly without a care and never doubt himself. It was this that made me lose what sort of hero Peter set out to be.
But as much as I hated this arch, I do get to see what sort of person Peter becomes when he does grow up. He is oddly enough at his nicest and kindest. He is polite to Tinkerbell and Hook. It’s painful to think that he has to be a dick and make bad choices to get to that stage. But that is part of “growing up” one can say.
I can go on and on to nitpick this cartoon and how its flawed, but I'll end it there.
But, hands down, the shining gem of the entire show is Captain Hook himself. Jim Curry as Captain Hook is probably the best decision this cartoon has made. He gives such a great performance as being the Jolly Roger's Captain that it could make anyone smile. He is cunning, he is deceitful, and hilarious! The insults he spews out are pure gold as well! “By Jutisobenry” “Nazy Ninnicocks”, “Cheeky cumbean”, “Cheating cully dogs”, and so many others! Perhaps it's just me loving the way he is portrayed, but this certain Captain was what kept me coming back. If you want a enjoyable Captain Hook, please go with this one.
Overall, my review is the show just felt too mean spirited. Everyone was more mean to each other than anything else. Even amongst themselves, the lost boys, the native kids, mermaids- just everyone was out at each other! Hardly any happiness happened or a good moment pass. Conflict was everywhere and it was a pain to witness. Now yes, the action and the adventures were creative. Each story could be its own little book if someone wished to make this into a book series. Peter Pan at his core too, is heroic. But has too many flaws to him to make me think beyond that. Perhaps it just wasn't my cup of Tea.
Now as the title says, this is only part 6 of my list of which is the best Peter Pan! I hope to give an update soon as I can! For now, please enjoy and have a lovely day!