News

While children's fantasy movies are usually characterized by their happy endings and light themes, revisiting these projects as an adult can provide new insight into the deeper messages. More often than not, the nostalgic aspects of kids' movies hit harder for older viewers since these narratives are reminiscent of a time gone by. The ephemeral nature of childhood and the unexpected difficulties of adulthood are brought into sharp perspective through the lens of a story meant to entice and enchant young audiences. Occasionally, Easter eggs meant for adults provide a fun hidden layer of meaning for returning viewers to enjoy.

These films come from many different eras and niches, with some fantasy movie box office flops developing into cult classics over time, especially with adults rewatching these projects. Understanding the context and setting of these films is a large part of what makes them special for adults, as these parts...

Hopefully, those May flowers will start blooming soon after the many April (and previous months’) showers. But whatever the weather, Netflix has a solid selection of new movies to watch this month.

Netflix’s May lineup has several bright and joyful animated films as well as more serious stories with light at the end of the tunnel. Tom Hanks’ latest theatrical release “A Man Called Otto” arrives on the streaming service, adapted from Frederick Backman’s book “A Man Called Ove” and following the story of a grumpy old man who struggles to find purpose in life after the death of his wife.

Animated adventures for the whole family include “The Croods” and “The Tale of Desperaux” which teach lessons of bravery in their own ways. For those in the mood for slightly quirkier stories, Jason Moore’s “Pitch Perfect” and “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” should do the trick.

April showers bring May flowers, but Amazon Prime Video’s April slate of new movies contains some bright watches for any leftover rain. The “Judy Blume Forever” documentary arrives toward the end of the month, telling the author’s life story and highlighting the impact her writing made on literature and the world. The doc will precede “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” which releases in theaters at the end of the month.

George Clooney returns to a tropical setting alongside Julia Roberts in the 2022 romantic comedy “Ticket to Paradise,” and his earlier Hawaiian-set film “The Descendants” will be available too. “Bros” provides another rom-com option that landed on the streamer on April 4. And we’ve even got a pick for the whole family.

Here are our picks for seven of the best new movies to watch on Amazon Prime Video in April 2023:

“Judy Blume Forever” Prime Video...

Opens

Thursday, Dec. 25

The new "Peter Pan" is outfitted with lush period costumes, elaborately romanticized sets, flamboyant wigs, wondrous props, animatronic animals, a melodic symphonic score, dazzling effects achieved through computer graphics, animation, bluescreens and wires and sparkling cinematography that integrates those effects seamlessly. Yet the film never really takes off.

You root for Peter and his gang to rediscover the magic of one of the most charming children's stories ever conceived, a story that has tickled audiences' imaginations for nearly a century. But the film suffers from uneven acting, an over-reliance on production values and an uncertainty over how dangerous the children's adventures should be.

Younger children, especially those who don't know "Peter Pan" from a frying pan, may enjoy the lavishly produced fairly tale with its pirates, Indians and Lost Boys. But the age cutoff, where such enjoyment drops precipitously, probably hits in early adolescence. The film should open strongly both here and overseas, but its inability to reach out to teen or adult audiences will surely harm its boxoffice chances.

The first "Peter Pan" movie is believed to have been made in 1924, two decades after the debut of J.M. Barrie's play and four years before he published the story as a novel. In this version, writer-director P.J. Hogan (who rewrote Michael Goldenberg's screenplay) hews close to the letter of Barrie's tale. He even casts a real boy as its eponymous hero instead of falling back on the long-standing tradition of using a lithe, young woman.

While many of the actors perform as though cast in a stage version, where they are very much playing to the last rows, there are solid performances here. Jason Isaacs, rather one-note-ish as Mr. Darling, the children's bumbling father, gives his other role, that of top pirate Captain Hook, a virile villainy and sexy swagger. As Wendy Darling, Rachel Hurd-Wood, in her professional acting debut no less, quite miraculously manages to charm and beguile, capturing the exact moment when a girl is in transition between child and young woman. As Peter, the boy who will never grow up, Jeremy Sumpter performs the physical stunts with boyish energy but also delivers tender moments where Peter must reveal his loneliness and vulnerability.

Extravagantly wasted, though, are three fine actresses. The worst is France's rising star Ludivine Sagnier, who as the jealous little fairy Tinker Bell is utterly mislaid by the movie. Olivia Williams is mostly required to sleep in front of an open window, awaiting the return of her "kidnapped" children. And Lynn Redgrave overdoes a newly created role of the children's Aunt Millicent, a character that never quite fits comfortably into the tale.

As always, Wendy's nighttime storytelling to her two brothers, John (Harry Newell) and Michael (Freddie Popplewell), leads to an awfully big adventure when Peter Pan, who listens outside their nursery window, lures the trio from their beds to a flight over the rooftops of London to Neverland. Here they encounter the Lost Boys, a curious tribe of Indians (much de-emphasized in this PC version), dangerous mermaids and, of course, a raucous though ineffectual band of pirates headed by Captain Hook.

By relentlessly pitching this film to children, though, Hogan and his collaborators overlook the sophistication, wit and even the oddness -- the children's nanny is a large dog, for Pete's sake! -- of the original work. Nor does the film make any attempt to render the obscure vocabulary and clever asides flung at adult readers by Barrie into cinematic terms. The adventures themselves lack any sense of thrill or jeopardy. Peter -- who, after all, is named after a Greek god -- should be something of a subversive, even disruptive figure, but Hogan and company stick too closely to the Disneyesque version.

There are a few fun additions, like Captain Hook having not one deadly hook in place of his lost hand but an array of sharp devices as the occasion demands. But the filmmakers' determination to leave nothing to the imagination and unwillingness to find ways to refreshen the Barrie story for a new generation keep this "Peter Pan" firmly rooted to the ground.

PETER PAN

Universal Pictures

Columbia Pictures/Universal PIctures/Revolution Studios present a Douglas Wick-Lucy Fisher-Allied Stars production

Credits:

Director: P.J. Hogan

Screenwriters: P.J. Hogan, Michael Goldenberg

Based on the play and books by: J.M. Barrie

Producers: Lucy Fisher, Douglas Wick, Patrick McCormick

Executive producers: Mohamed Al Fayed, Gail Lyon, Jocelyn Moorhouse

Director of photography: Donald M. McAlpine

Production designer: Roger Ford

Music: James Newton Howard

Co-producers: Gary Alelson, Craig Baumgarten

Costume designer: Janet Patterson

Editors: Garth Craven, Michael Kahn

Cast:

Mr. Darling/Captain Hook: Jason Isaacs

Peter Pan: Jeremy Sumpter

Wendy Darling: Rachel Hurd-Wood

Aunt Millicent

Lynn Redgrave

Smee: Richard Briers

Mrs. Darling: Olivia Williams

Tink: Ludivine Sagnier

Sir Edward Quiller Couch: Geoffrey Palmer

Running time -- 113 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...