You know how Steven Soderbergh made a career of alternating between micro-budget independent films in which he could experiment, and star-studded heist movies designed to please the broadest possible base of viewers? Well it seems that David Lowery has a similar arrangement, except the projects he’s alternating are metaphysical ruminations on a state of being somewhere between life and death, and live-action Disney remakes. That’s right, the director of A Ghost Story and The Green Knight, and also of the Disney remake Pete’s Dragon, has remade another Disney movie where the main character is called Peter.

Peter Pan & Wendy, which debuted late last month on Disney+, is actually the third prominent remake of J.M. Barrie’s classic tale since 2015, coming on the heels of Joe Wright’s terrible Pan and Benh Zeitlin’s valiant but ultimately misguided Wendy. Those two titles are mashed into the title of Disney’s authorised remake of its 1953 animated classic Peter Pan, and they’ve brought in the guy who did such a smash-up job with Pete’s Dragon in 2016. Lowery seems like just the sort of guy Marvel Studios would poach to make one of their movies, except the Mouse House is likely plenty happy with what Lowery is doing on that side of the company – and with good reason.

Yet another version of this story really feels like something new in the hands of Lowery, whose visual sensibilities are first rate. The look and feel of Pete’s Dragon, combined with some unobtrusive sentiment, were what worked so well there, and indeed, Lowery has grafted those same sensibilities on to Barrie’s characters.

Lowery has the unique ability to give us a veritable symphony of different camera angles in a single scene, without it once seeming like he’s showing off. What’s more, they’re all the right camera angles. It may be no surprise that the director of photography, Bojan Bazelli, also worked with Lowery on Pete’s Dragon. Not only does this resemble that, but it reminds one of Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, a trailblazer in the quest to give children’s subject matter the sort of bespoke prestige appreciated by discriminating adults. Because this is Disney, we shouldn’t be surprised to see this one being a bit more on the lighter and more whimsical side than that one.

That camera is pointed at quite a bit of talent as well. Jude Law, who is following a bit the same career path as fellow former matinee idol Colin Farrell, is the biggest name here as Captain Hook, the classic rival of one of our two title characters. There were never any depths to this character in the 1953 version, but subsequent interpretations have focused on how he’s Peter’s fallen friend – and in fact, he’s even one of the heroes in Pan. Law pulls off the trick of making him despicable and genuinely capable of causing harm, while also peering a bit into the back story that left him in this pitiable state. Law takes a big bite into the role but also pulls it back when needed.

Although the younger actors hold their own plenty well – Alexander Molony as Peter and Ever Anderson as Wendy – the biggest impression other than Law belongs to our Tinker Bell. That’s Yara Shahidi, and the film makes the fortunate decision to excise the problematic storyline from the original regarding her jealousy of Wendy. She’s a bit protective of Peter, but fortunately, she never tries to sabotage anyone. That’s for the best because Shahidi is a simply adorable Tink, her series of quizzical expressions serving as great comedic punctuation to whatever’s happening in the scene. True to form, she doesn’t speak in a way that we viewers can understand – but she does move her mouth and produce little bursts of tinkling language, in a truly bewitching effect.

The effects are another standout. At this point it’s probably worthwhile making a direct contrast to the most recent Disney live-action remake, last year’s Robert Zemeckis-directed Pinocchio – with which the Peter Pan story has always shared a number of narrative elements. As there is with any Zemeckis project, there was a fair bit of technical wizardry required to animate the faces of cats and that sort of thing.

The far more natural and seamless way visual effects are incorporated into this film prompts a sigh of relief from anyone fearing Zemeckis’ infamous uncanny valley. When characters fly, they appear really to be flying, surfing the winds in ways that promote instant suspension of disbelief. Tinker Bell feels like a real element in the picture. When Peter’s body moves in a way no human body can, we know it requires the assistance of digital effects – but only because we understand the physics of the human body, not because we see the cracks in the illusion. Even the crocodile chasing Hook, the only character that is clearly all digital, is handled in a way halfway between cartoon and reptile that perfectly befits the magical space in which Lowery has placed us.

As with the other Pinocchio from last year, the stop-motion one directed by Guillermo del Toro, Peter Pan & Wendy does have a built-in ceiling for its effectiveness, and it’s this: How much you love this film is always going to be a function of how much you love the actual story. As there has been a version of Peter Pan made on average every four years in the past decade, we’ve all had plenty of opportunity to decide where we stand on this story and these characters. Even coming to the screen with as much grace and joie de vivre as Lowery gives us here, these characters aren’t new and for some of us, aren’t particularly welcome.

But regardless of his own level of affection for the material, Lowery has given it his all in this exquisite realisation that reads a lot more like a passion project than a director-for-hire job. That’s certainly to his credit as a filmmaker. If Disney is going to continue to march through its intellectual property with live-action remakes as it has been doing for the past decade or so – and The Little Mermaid is due out in less than three weeks – then they should at least continue to partner with directors of Lowery’s calibre.

 

Peter Pan & Wendy is currently streaming on Disney+.