Lame. Boring. And above all, BAD.
Cheesy. Unbearable. Nearly shameful. Half the time, just WRONG.
If you think Mary Martin was too much of a "feminine" Peter Pan, then you haven't seen Mia Farrow. Uses her normal female voice, no accent. Very woman-like.
This was not filmed on stage. It was filmed in a television studio. Very little flying. Tinker Bell, Peter's shadow, and fairydust is all animated. When Peter and the Darlings fly over London, all bluescreen lame flying effects. You can easily see the overlapping layers they used (I know, this was 1970's, but they could have done this differently).
The songs were uninspiring. Unemotional. Only there to be classified as a musical. They served no purpose at all. When the Lost Boys sang, they sounded like the chorus you hear when in OLVIER, the boys sing "Food, Glorious Food." Very 'Christmas chorale' like.
I don't know what Captain Hook was. He wasn't scary. He wasn't comical. He wasn't even a villain!! He was only a character involved in a plot. He could have killed Peter Pan easily, he was right behind him, but he heard the Croc, so he let Peter go, and ran away. Oops - WALKED away.
The only thing that had potential was in the beggining, after Wendy sows on Peter's shadow. He dances around the room, and there is an animated (think Disney) shadow on the walls, immitating and sometimes doing the opposite of what Peter Pan was doing.
Tinker Bell sounded like an alien spaceship.
I saw it once, and I wish I hadn't seen it. This gives PETER PAN a bad name. Be glad it is not on DVD. Be glad you will not see this.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
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