Parents’ Weekend is a magical time on the Boston College campus. Parents descend upon the campus and students are left to clear their social calendars and, for 72 excruciating hours, try to appear to be something remotely resembling a family. In an attempt to foster that warm and fuzzy family feeling, this week’s topic is the best family movie.
When speaking of family movies, one name immediately jumps to mind: Disney. Before going any further some clarification is perhaps necessary. Disney is no longer a family operation. It has become a marketing monster that only produces films with characters that will make cute stuffed animals. Disney did its best work before they froze Walt.
The people of Disney gave Peter Pan life in 1953. Based on the novel by J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan is the story of a boy who wants what every boy wants. Peter does not want to grow up. He chases his shadow and lives in eternal pre-pubescence in Never-Never land, located at the “first star on the left and straight on till morning.”
In the film Peter ends up chasing his shadow to the home of three darling children whom he sprinkles with magic dust to make them fly. He then takes them on an extraordinary journey back to Never-Never Land. While there, Peter and his partner-in-crime Tinkerbell get into a tussle with the Lost Boys and Peter’s nemesis, Captain Hook.
The movie features a soundtrack typical of most every Disney production. It features songs that are catchy the first 40 or 50 times they’re played, but then start to cause throbbing headaches and bleeding from the ears and eyes. Another company that profits from the brainwashing of children, Toys ’R’ Us, used a song from Peter Pan in its widely aired commercials.
Peter Pan was re-made in 1991 under the name Hook, starring Robin Williams as Peter Pan in the midst of a sort of mid-life crisis. The film featured a strong cast which included Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell and Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook. Hook was a very clever take on a story that has been retold numerous times. Some may remember the uproar over Sandy Duncan, a woman, playing the part of Peter Pan in the Broadway production. There are also other live-action performances of the classic that were made for television.
Considering that the novel was written in 1904 and nearly a century later people are still talking about it, Peter Pan is one of those movies that parents will watch with their children for generations to come.
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