Disney Movies: #14 Peter Pan (1953)
Entry #3 in the 'Watch all the Classic Disney (Animated) Movies' Challenge
So if I watch four Disney movies each month, I should be able to watch all of them be the end of the year, no sweat.
Seanie loves the book Peter Pan, and I mean loves it. He's got all of the Dave Barry 'prequel' series and as many sequels/spin-offs/alternate tellings that I can find at the bookstore. It's an iconic part of his childhood. But when we tried to watch this movie last year, he fell asleep long before the halfway point. So we decided to re-watch this movie, and luckily this time Seanie managed to stay awake. In fact, he was amazed he'd fallen asleep last time.
Oh, for what it's worth we watched the movie on VHS. I think it must have been the first VHS release, since I remember watching it as kid in the early nineties. For any Disney geeks who care about the video edition.
Overall Peter Pan is still a really fun movie. I've always liked Peter because he's just a kid, and is subject to the same selfishness and narcissism that all little kids seem to possess. He's oblivious to that which doesn't suit his immediate needs (the fact that Wendy, Tiger Lily, Tinkerbell and a whole school of mermaids have romantic interests in him just goes right over his head) and seems to have no concept of death or permanent destruction. I always loved that when one of the mermaids contritely point out that she was only trying to drown Wendy, he accepts this as perfectly reasonable.
Captain Hook's still a perfect Disney villain, a wonderful combination of Badass Motherfucker and Big Fat Pussy. In his first scene, he shoots one of his crew members because he doesn't like the way he's singing without warning or even batting an eye; closer to the end of the movie he kills another pirate because he's angry that Wendy escaped. He's not at all bothered that Peter cut off his hand; his only regret is that the hand was fed to the crocodile that now plagues his life. In another, crocodile-free movie, Hook would be King of the Pirates. But instead the mere thought of the Crocodile reduces Hook to a blubbering mess.
Certain aspects of it haven't aged well, most notably the Indian tribe and Pow Wow/"What Makes The Red Man Red?" segment. And I mean WOW that hasn't aged well. The caricatures of Native American warriors, with black plaited hair covering their eyes, buck teeth, slouching shoulders and RED skin made me laugh as a kid, but now I can see how offensive they are and it does bother me. But it doesn't bother me that much, because the movie was made over fifty years ago and it is a product of that age, when Westerns were still a popular form of entertainment and Indian stereotypes ran rampant.
But as Seanie pointed out, the Indian women are all drawn with brown skin and the Indian men are bright red. The song explains that this is because the men are all perpetually blushing, either:
A/ Because the first Indian kiss somehow genetically programmed them to red skin
B/ They're always chasing Indian women, thus always blushing.
Either way, it's a disturbing thought.
Sorry kids, this is no longer kosher.
I give this movie 9/10 stars.
I'd totally give it 10 if it weren't for the Indians.
Peter Pan may not be politically correct, but it's still a great adventure story that every kid would enjoy.
So if I watch four Disney movies each month, I should be able to watch all of them be the end of the year, no sweat.
Seanie loves the book Peter Pan, and I mean loves it. He's got all of the Dave Barry 'prequel' series and as many sequels/spin-offs/alternate tellings that I can find at the bookstore. It's an iconic part of his childhood. But when we tried to watch this movie last year, he fell asleep long before the halfway point. So we decided to re-watch this movie, and luckily this time Seanie managed to stay awake. In fact, he was amazed he'd fallen asleep last time.
Oh, for what it's worth we watched the movie on VHS. I think it must have been the first VHS release, since I remember watching it as kid in the early nineties. For any Disney geeks who care about the video edition.
Overall Peter Pan is still a really fun movie. I've always liked Peter because he's just a kid, and is subject to the same selfishness and narcissism that all little kids seem to possess. He's oblivious to that which doesn't suit his immediate needs (the fact that Wendy, Tiger Lily, Tinkerbell and a whole school of mermaids have romantic interests in him just goes right over his head) and seems to have no concept of death or permanent destruction. I always loved that when one of the mermaids contritely point out that she was only trying to drown Wendy, he accepts this as perfectly reasonable.
Captain Hook's still a perfect Disney villain, a wonderful combination of Badass Motherfucker and Big Fat Pussy. In his first scene, he shoots one of his crew members because he doesn't like the way he's singing without warning or even batting an eye; closer to the end of the movie he kills another pirate because he's angry that Wendy escaped. He's not at all bothered that Peter cut off his hand; his only regret is that the hand was fed to the crocodile that now plagues his life. In another, crocodile-free movie, Hook would be King of the Pirates. But instead the mere thought of the Crocodile reduces Hook to a blubbering mess.
Certain aspects of it haven't aged well, most notably the Indian tribe and Pow Wow/"What Makes The Red Man Red?" segment. And I mean WOW that hasn't aged well. The caricatures of Native American warriors, with black plaited hair covering their eyes, buck teeth, slouching shoulders and RED skin made me laugh as a kid, but now I can see how offensive they are and it does bother me. But it doesn't bother me that much, because the movie was made over fifty years ago and it is a product of that age, when Westerns were still a popular form of entertainment and Indian stereotypes ran rampant.
But as Seanie pointed out, the Indian women are all drawn with brown skin and the Indian men are bright red. The song explains that this is because the men are all perpetually blushing, either:
A/ Because the first Indian kiss somehow genetically programmed them to red skin
B/ They're always chasing Indian women, thus always blushing.
Either way, it's a disturbing thought.
Sorry kids, this is no longer kosher.
I give this movie 9/10 stars.
I'd totally give it 10 if it weren't for the Indians.
Peter Pan may not be politically correct, but it's still a great adventure story that every kid would enjoy.