Pan

Director Joe Wright became my favorite filmmaker after Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, The Soloist and Hanna.  Then, there was that valiant, but failed effort of Anna Karenina where he tried to locate the story on a stage, miscasting the supposedly enticing Count with someone Anna would have to be blind to fall for.  But, I let it slide.  Everyone is entitled to a screw up.

Now, Wright has directed Pan and, while it is not a bad film…young children will enjoy it…, it just makes me wonder, “What’s up with Joe?”

Here, Hugh Jackman and a miscast Garrett Hedlund are playing as if they were cartoon characters in a nonsensical script by Writer Jason Fuchs, who is much better at animated scripts.  What’s more, they are playing on cheesy-looking stage sets by the normally excellent Aline Bonetto.  $150 million for this!!???

The only respite is with a few real locations shots that hint at what this could have been.

 

Fortunately, the well-cast Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily and the earnestness of young Levi Miller as Pan are there to save the production from going to “Neverwhere.”

I pray for Joe to get back to real locations and the really good stories for which he has a genius.

As for Pan, I can only give it a 3.3 out of 5 for the kiddies.