Disney's Peter-Pan 0II in Return To NeverLand

Return to Never Land (or Peter Pan in Disney's Return to Never Land) is a 2002 animated film sequel to the 1953 film produced by the Walt Disney Television Animation in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. The original "Return to Neverland" VHS & DVD was released on August 20, 2002. It included digitally animated sequences and an all-new voice cast. Return to Never Land was re-released on a Pixie-Powered Edition DVD on November 27, 2007.
== Plot ==
The story begins in World War II London, during the Luftwaffe's bombing campaign in preparation for Operation: Sea Lion. Peter Pan's former playmate Wendy Darling has grown up and married, and has two children of her own: a 12-year-old daughter Jane, and a 4-year-old son Danny. Her husband Edward is sent to fight in the European Theatre of the war, leaving her to raise the children by herself with support from their dog, Nana II. She tries to keep their spirits up with stories of Peter Pan, but Jane has become cynical under the pressures of the war, belittling the stories her mother tells and ridiculing her brother's faith in them.
Captain Hook, still seeking revenge against Peter Pan, sails through the skies on his pixie-dust-enchanted pirate ship, finds Jane sleeping by the window, and – mistaking her for Wendy – abducts her to use as bait for Peter. However, his ship triggers an air raid alarm and is mistaken for a Luftwaffe bomber and Hook has to escape for his life as the Germans attack London and Royal Air Force Spitfire planes move on the ship as anti-aircraft fire erupts around them. Back in Neverland, he drops the girl into the waiting tentacles of "the beast", a giant octopus, expecting Peter to also be devoured by it as he dives after "Wendy" to save her. However, Peter rescues Jane and Hook is eaten instead. Though Hook manages to escape, the octopus enjoys his taste (much like the crocodile he had finally managed to lose long before) and begins hunting him down.
Peter rescues Jane, and upon finding she is Wendy's daughter, assumes she would like to follow in her mother's footsteps. He takes her to his home to be the mother to the Lost Boys, but Jane refuses, more interested in getting back home. They try to make her have fun and to teach her to fly, but she fails because she does not believe. She blurts out that she does not even believe in fairies, which horrifies everyone and leaves Tinker Bell slowly dying.
Jane leaves them and is approached by Hook, who tricks her with a deal. He promises to take her home and lies that he won't harm Peter, and she agrees to help him find his treasure. He gives Jane a whistle to signal him when she locates it. She returns to the Lost Boys to play a "treasure hunt" game, and they try to win her into becoming one of them, so she will believe in fairies and restore Tinker Bell's health. When Jane finds the treasure and Peter and the Lost Boys make her the very first Lost Girl, she throws Hook's whistle away (before she becomes a Lost Girl), but Tootles finds it and – not realizing what it is for – blows it. Hook and crew arrive and capture Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, but let Jane go as thanks for "helping" them. Peter hears this and accuses Jane for being a traitor and for lying to him, even after she said that she never agreed to Hook's plan. Peter then reveals to Jane as the pirates drag him away that because she still does not believe in fairies, Tink's light would go out, leaving Jane horrified and filled with extreme guilt.
Back at the Lost Boys' home, Jane rushes to Tinker Bell before her light went out, be she was too late; Jane then started to cry, ashamed by her actions. Suddenly her tears of sorrow and her newfound belief magically brought Tinker Bell back to life right in front of her. They hurry to the Jolly Roger, where they find Peter on the plank. Jane saves him, and with the help of "faith, trust, and pixie dust," learns to fly. Hook grabs Jane, but Peter saves her, also sinking the ship. Hook and the pirates exit via a rowboat, pursued by the giant octopus who believes them to be different kinds of fish due to a major sight problem.
Now that she can fly, Jane is able to return home to Wendy and Danny; Peter and Tinker Bell escort her. Peter and Wendy are briefly reunited, and he is disappointed that she has grown up, but she assures him that she hasn't really changed; Tinker Bell, having gotten over her jealousy of Wendy, covers her in pixie dust, allowing her to fly one last time; Wendy's proven her point to Peter. He says goodbye and flies off, with Wendy, Jane, Danny and Nana II watching. Edward returns from the army, Hitler's plans to invade Britain are thwarted by the Royal Air Force (coupled with massive losses in Stalingrad against the Soviet Armed Forces), the family is reunited, and the family watches as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell quietly fly home.
== Voice Cast ==
Because nearly five decades had passed since the original Disney film, a new cast of voice actors was used for this sequel. Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice of Wendy in the original, recorded all of the now-adult character's dialogue for Return to Never Land, but Disney later had Kath Soucie completely re-record the role.
* Harriet Owen as Jane (Singing voice provided by Jonatha Brooke) and Young Wendy Darling
* Blayne Weaver as Peter Pan
* Corey Burton as Captain Hook
* Jeff Bennett as Mr. Smee and Pirate Crew
* Kath Soucie as Adult Wendy Darling
* Andrew McDonough as Danny
* Roger Rees as Edward
* Spencer Breslin as Cubby
* Bradley Pierce as Nibs
* Quinn Beswick as Slightly
* Aaron Spann as Twins
* Frank Welker as Nana II and Octopus
* Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Dan Castellaneta as Pirate Crew
* Clive Revill as Elderly Officer and the Narrator
* Wally Wingert as Chorus And Pirate Crew
== Reception ==
The film opened at the third position at the box office behind Crossroads and John Q. Return to Never Land grossed $48,423,368 domestically and $61,432,424 overseas, for a total of $109,862,682. With an estimated budget of $20,000,000, this made Return to Never Land a modestly successful theatrical release. This was before DVD sales, which had been the initially planned market for the film. Reviews for this film are generally mixed to negative, with a total score of 45% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Nell Minow of Common Sense Media called it "Pleasant but forgettable", and John J. Puccio of Movie Metropolis called it "a lukewarm, watered-down recounting of everything we've seen before". Jason Anderson of Globe and Mail said: "The boy who wouldn't grow up comes off like a shrill, obnoxious little drip." Additionally, Michael Edwards, a theatergoer that watched the movie, stated flat-out that the film is "not worthy of being called a Disney sequel" due to its inconsistencies and problems (see Trivia section). Jane was described by Tim Brayton as "an unappealing main character drifting through a dramatically inert script". Walt Disney Animation Studios, the creators of the 1953 film, does not acknowledge it as canon.
== Release ==
Return to Never Land was released on VHS and DVD August 20, 2002, and it took in only lukewarm sales. This version of the film went out of print on January 31, 2003. On November 27, 2007, Return to Never Land was released in a "Pixie-Powered Edition"; the movie was also released in a Peter Pan Trilogy, along with the Peter Pan Platinum Edition, and Tinker Bell, on December 18, 2008. The Pixie-Powered Edition returned to the Disney Vault along with Peter Pan on January 31, 2009. It was re-released on Disney Blu-ray August 20, 2013. It was reprinted on Blu-ray in June 2018 as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive. Return to Never Land was added to The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney+ on November 12, 2019.
== Gallery ==
The Disney Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Return to Never Land.
== Trivia ==
* This is the last film to be released under the Disney MovieToons label before the company was transferred from Walt Disney Television Animation to Walt Disney Animation Studios (then known as Walt Disney Feature Animation).
* As the voice of Wendy in Walt Disney's Peter Pan, Kathryn Beaumont likewise recorded all of Wendy's dialogue for Return to Never Land. However, for unknown reasons, the role of Wendy in Return to Never Land was later recast with Kath Soucie.
* Because most of the original voice cast from the film had died, including Hans Conried (the voice of Captain Hook) and Bobby Driscoll (the voice of Peter Pan), and because any surviving child actors at the time were too old to reprise their roles, an entirely new cast of actors had to be used for this sequel.
* Corey Burton and Jeff Bennett, who played Captain Hook and Smee respectively, also provided voices for Star Wars games and animated cartoon series.
* This is the second Disney film set in England during World War II. The first one was Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
* End credits feature a remake of "Do You Believe in Magic?" by BBMak. The film also features a remake of the song "Second Star to the Right", the theme for the original movie.
* Although Jane and Peter fly through the Indian Encampment, Princess Tiger Lily and the Indians are not featured in the sequel. This is most likely due to their perceived stereotypical characteristics in the original film, despite the merchandise including them (pins, books, toys, video games, figures and action figures).
* In Return to Never Land the crocodile was replaced by an orange octopus. One of Hook's lines implies that the crocodile is dead but no further explanation is given. However, like the crocodile, the octopus just got a taste of Captain Hook and liked it so much, it is now going to be after him for the rest of his life.
** Mr. Smee made a reference to the crocodile by saying that the crocodile had more manners than the octopus.
** While the twins in the original movie spoke in unison, the twins in Return to Never Land have different voice actors and speak normally.
* The adult Wendy's clothing strongly resembles that of Belle's peasant dress in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
* The Lost Boys were not named in the original film. In Return to Never Land, they are called to attention and most of them state the names Barrie gave them in the book: Slightly, in the fox suit; Nibs, in the rabbit suit; the Twins in the raccoon suits; and Tootles, in the skunk suit. Cubby, in the bear suit, had his named changed to complement his suit. He was named Curly in the novel.
* Cubby/Curly seems to be the most talkative Lost Boy in Return to Never Land, but he was not the main Lost Boy in Peter and Wendy. The primary Lost Boy was Tootles who, oddly enough, does still not speak at all in either movie.
* When the Jolly Roger was flying through the vortex to Never Land, dialogue from the previous film can be heard, including Wendy's line, "Peter, you saved my life".
* This is the fourth sequel of a Walt Disney Animation Studios film to get a theatrical release, following The Rescuers Down Under, Fantasia 2000, and The Tigger Movie.
* A lion that appears during the song "The Things that we Lost Boys Do" resembles Lambert Lion.
* John and Michael are absent in this movie, possibly moving away as they got older. Meanwhile, Wendy inherited the Darling house.
* This is the first film until The Fox and the Hound 2 to feature the 2002 version of the 1990 Walt Disney Pictures logo featuring the 7th flag on the castle.
* In the last scene, where Peter and Wendy reunite, Wendy curtsied to Peter the same way she did in the original film.
* The film was released along with a tie-in video game with a completely different story, Peter Pan: Adventures in Never Land, with all the characters from the original film except for the Darlings.
== References ==
== External links ==
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