seity1 brought over the DVD of last year's "Peter Pan" to share, but the disc she got from her free trial of Blockbuster's DVD-by-mail service was broken. We ended up watching it last night. Fun movie! It's a lot more faithful to the original Barrie than the stage play or the Disney movie, though it's not much more complete. They did a good job with Peter's shadow, thanks to modern digital imaging.We noticed as the credits rolled that there were several effects houses heavily involved in making the movie. I wasn't surprised to see ILM roll past with a long list of names, but then there were two other major effects houses and a couple of others listed for presumably minor work. Huge amounts of the movie obviously took place on a blue soundstage that was replaced later. We watched a couple of the "bonus features" clips, and in a couple of them, you see stage crew dressed in full blue bodysuits, catching people or moving things; they're invisible in the final cut. It was all sufficiently believable on-screen that the amount of digital effects wasn't obvious until you hit the credits.
The little girl playing Wendy, Rachel Hurd-Wood, looked vaguely like Liv Tyler, and I commented at one point that she had very large teeth. She's a great actor, though, and I hope as she grows up she keeps it up. Her face is very emotive. Jeremy Sumpter, playing Pan (no, it wasn't Sandy Duncan), seemed to be forcing his expressions sometimes, but in general, he was good in the role. I really enjoyed Jason Isaacs as Mr. Darling and, as I realized after several scenes, as Hook. He's the perfect meanie.
Lynn Redgrave was good as the prudish aunt, but Olivia Williams seemed barely there as the mother. She was better in "Sixth Sense" and "The Postman." No idea who played the grown-up Wendy, who appeared in an alternate ending on the DVD. She wasn't credited, since they didn't use the scene in the movie, but I liked her.
It would be fun to do a Pan film festival, running the Disney film, this, and "Hook," and then going off to see "Finding Neverland." That should be opening soon!
Before the movie, we had spaghetti and meatballs with
ruffian_wind, who brought over fresh cucumbers and cherry tomatoes from her garden. I'd had a spaghetti and meatball craving earlier in the day, and was very happy with how the homemade meatballs came out, simmered in last week's homemade sauce. 