Return to Never Land
Film information
Directed by	Robin Budd Donovan Cook (co-director)
Produced by	Cheryl Abood Christopher Chase Dan Rounds
Written by	Temple Mathews (screenplay) Carter Crocker (additional material) (based on J.M. Barrie's characters and Walt Disney's 1953 film)
Music by	Joel McNeely
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Language	English
Budget	$20 million

Return to Never Land (or Peter Pan in Disney's Return to Never Land) is a 2002 animation film sequel to the 1953 film produced by the DisneyToon studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The original "Return to Neverland" VHS & DVD was released on June 18, 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.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Voice cast 3 Critical reception 4 Gallery 5 References 6 Comments

PlotEdit

The story begins in World War II London, during the Blitz. Peter Pan's former playmate Wendy Darling has grown up and married, and has two children of her own: an 12-year-old daughter Jane, and a 4-year-old son Danny. Her husband Edward is sent to fight in the war, leaving her to raise the children by herself. 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 alarm and is mistaken for a Luftwaffe bomber and Hook has to escape for his life as the Germans attack London. Back in Never Land, 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 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 doesn't believe. She blurts out that she doesn't even believe in fairies, which 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 game of "treasure hunt", and they try to win her into becoming one of them, so she'll 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 says that now because she still doesn't believe in fairies, Tink's light would go out.

Back at the Lost Boys' home, Jane gets to Tinker Bell too late, but with her new-found belief, she revives 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, due to a major sight problem, believes them to be different kinds of fish.

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 displeased that she's grown up, but she assures him that she hasn't really changed. Edward returns from the army, the family is reunited,and the family watches as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell quietly fly home.

Voice castEdit

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 rerecord 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 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
• Dan Castellaneta, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Clive Revill, and Wally Wingert as the additional voices

Critical receptionEdit

Return to Never Land received mostly negative reviews from critics and moviegoers who loved the original more. Review Aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 53% "Rotten" rating based on 91 reviews, 50 of which were negative.^[1]

GalleryEdit

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ [1]