Pan

Do you believe in fairies? I do, I do! Now I was never one for the fairy tale princess Disney films, I much preferred Robin Hood, Tarzan and my all time favourite Peter Pan. The story of Peter Pan has already been made into several films: there’s the Disney classic and the live action 2003 feature film starting Jeremy Sumpter and I’ve been lucky with both – I could watch them on repeat forever.

But now, 13 years later the story we all know and love has had a makeover, introducing ‘Pan’ the untold story. With it’s release not set until Summer 2015 they released a trailer for eager fans earlier this week – I have mixed reviews. On one hand a new take on the classic is a breath of fresh air, with a star studded cast and what looks like a breathtaking CGI Neverland I’m more than sure it’ll be worth watching on the big screen! But the white washed version of this story is not sitting well with me; director Joe Wright’s decision to cast Rooney Mara, a white American as Tiger Lily has sparked some backfire.

Wright has defended his decisions by stating he wanted people to reimagine race and ethnicity in Neverland, but I’m not sure this was the right way to go about it – ethnic minorities are already seemingly ignored in Hollywood.

It’s not just Tiger Lily who has apparently been reimagined; James Hook the villain we all love to hate will become Pan’s friend, hookless and played by Garret Hedlund I’m starting an unsettling crush on Hook, one I never wanted. The trailer has left me with more questions than I had before; where’s Tink? The crocodile? And Wendy Darling? All I hope is that they don’t ruin this, it’s too important to me.

Watched the ‘Pan’ trailer here and decide for yourself

By Talia Maguire