"Pan" Trailer Reaction

Nipping at the heels of Universal and the "Jurassic World" trailer, Warner Bros have just released the first trailer for their upcoming origin tale, "Pan." You can check out the trailer below. Mobile users might be having trouble with this so I'm going to put a link to the YouTube video anyway. So have a look and then I'll tell you what I think.

For mobile users : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHl8F60t-ss

Unlike the "Jurassic World" trailer, where I knew that I liked it at the end, I am still not sure what to make of  this. One thing is clear though: this sure isn't going to be the Peter Pan we all grew up with. There is some things to like about that and some things to be really annoyed about. Let's take a look.

Blackbeard's ( and probably one day Hook's) flies into the beautiful world of Neverland. Wait, that ship didn't fly until THE END of Peter Pan...

First off, the starting tone of the trailer is great. I personally like movies that go for the darker tone and this trailer seemed to have lots of it. The pirates dropping down from the ceiling, Peter's mother leaving, the orphanage setting. It all created this tone which is very different to any Peter Pan flick we've seen before. But of course that all falls apart as soon as Hugh Jackman's goofy and way over-the-top Blackbeard (who doesn't even have a full beard, by the way!) appears on screen, signalling our descent into crazy land. The darker tone falls apart by the second when the trailer enters Neverland, with lots of bright, flashy colours and more strange performances. It almost seemed like Warner Bros had changed what movie they were advertising halfway through!

See what I mean?

The acting, as I said, is very goofy here, but it DOES actually have some potential. They were able to show off the four principal actors in the movie in full makeup, although some did get more screen time than others. I'll put the character posters at the end of the post and my thoughts so you can see them for yourself. Hugh Jackman (seen above) is in the movie as the "menacing" Blackbeard. He's not shown in the best way here but Jackman is a good actor and will probably be able to pull through. New actor Levi Miller stars in the movie as the young Peter Pan. Now, I don't like child actors in general but this kid could be very good in the movie if this trailer is anything to go by. Rooney Mara and Garrett Hedlund also star in the movie in their roles as warrior Tiger Lily and a young pre-Captain Hook respectively. I'm not familiar with a lot, if any, of Mara's work but I have come across Hedlund before in 2010's "Tron: Legacy" where he played the lead. "Legacy" is not the best film but Hedlund was a good lead and hopefully he will be good here too. Now, my concerns are not with the actors themselves, but with what they will have to work with in the so-far underwhelming script. For example, at the very end of the trailer when Blackbeard asks Peter if he is going to kill him, Pan replies that he "does not believe in bedtime stories." I understand that could have been taken out of context or from somewhere else in the conversation but, if it has not, that is worrying. How is that a valid response to a yes/no question? Am I missing something? 

Pan (Levi Miller) hides from Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman) and his terrible wig

Where this trailer does succeed though is showing off how beautiful the effects are in the movie. Neverland looks stunning using technology never utilised in a Pan film before and adds to the fantastical feel the world is meant to have. Makeup is spot on as well, with the warrior tribe you can spot is the trailer being particularly well done. My final thoughts on "Pan" though are undecided. Bits of the trailer were good (the effects) and others not so much (the often terrible dialogue). I'm sure I'll go to see it anyway, assuming the next trailer isn't awful in every way, but this has not done anything to convince me "Pan" is Academy Award, BAFTA, or Golden Globe potential.

NEXT UP : "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Trailer Reaction when it releases tomorrow (this                               sure is a trailer week, isn't it) 

Character Posters, as promised