Return to Never Land

Return to Never Land
Theatrical release poster
Screenplay by	Temple Mathews
Based on	Characters created by J.M. Barrie
Starring	Blayne Weaver Harriet Owen Corey Burton Jeff Bennett
Narrated by	Clive Revill
Edited by	Antonio F. Rocco
Music by	Joel McNeely (Score) They Might Be Giants (Songs)
Production companies	Walt Disney Television Animation Walt Disney Pictures
Distributed by	Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates	February 10, 2002 (2002-02-10) (New York City) February 15, 2002 (2002-02-15) (United States)
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$115.1 million

Return to Never Land (also known as Peter Pan in Disney's Return to Never Land and later retitled Peter Pan: Return to Never Land on current home video release) is a 2002 American animated fantasy-adventure drama film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. The film is a sequel to Walt Disney Feature Animation's 1953 film Peter Pan and is based on J. M. Barrie's 1911 novel Peter and Wendy. The film had a worldwide gross of $115 million. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says it has "forgettable songs and lackluster story".

The film follows Wendy's daughter who refuses to believe in her mother's story during the Blitz in London, only to be mistakenly brought to Neverland by the pirates. In order for her to get home, she meets Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys who encourage her to fly and make her believe.

Plot

Decades after the events of the first film, Wendy is now grown up and married to a man named Edward and has two children, Jane and Daniel "Danny". With World War II raging, Edward leaves to fight, leaving Wendy to take care of the children. Jane is a very serious girl and, unlike her younger brother, refuses to believe in stories about Peter Pan and Neverland, referring to them as "childish nonsense", which ultimately leads to a furious argument with her mother and brother one night (after Wendy is informed and tells Jane that she and Danny, along with the other children in London, are being evacuated to the countryside for safekeeping due to the German bombing of the city). Later that night, Peter's arch-nemesis, Captain Hook, sailing through the sky on his pixie-dust enchanted ship, kidnaps Jane, mistaking her for Wendy, then evades an air raid alert and escapes back to Neverland. There, he plans for his crew to feed "Wendy" to an octopus in order to lure Peter into a trap. However, Peter rescues Jane and Hook escapes from the octopus, returning to the ship. After Jane tells Peter she is Wendy's daughter, Peter takes her to his hideout to be the mother of the Lost Boys as Wendy once was, but Jane refuses and gets stranded. The next day as the boys fail to teach Jane about flying, she upsets them and says that she does not believe in fairies, making Tinker Bell sick. This gives Hook an idea to lure Jane to him and then kidnap Peter.

That night, Hook finds Jane and lies to her that he will not harm Peter if she agrees to help him find treasure that the Lost Boys stole. Hook gives Jane a whistle to signal him when she finds it and leaves. Jane asks Peter and the boys to play a game of "treasure hunt", and they teach Jane to act like a Lost Boy, hoping to get her to believe in fairies and save Tinker Bell. As Jane finds the treasure and changes her mind into discarding the whistle, the boys make her the "Lost Girl" before Tootles finds and blows the whistle. As the pirates arrive to capture the boys, Hook reveals Jane was an accomplice. As Jane tries to tell Peter she never agreed to anything, Peter berates her for her treachery and tells her that her disbelief in fairies will cause Tinker Bell's light to go out. Horrified, Jane rushes back to the hideout to find Tinker Bell's body. Jane is distraught, thinking the fairy is dead, but with her new belief, Tinker Bell revives. They head to the ship and see Hook forcing Peter to walk the plank. With Tinker Bell's help, Jane learns to fly. As Peter uses the anchor to sink the ship, the pirates, riding on a rowboat, are pursued by the octopus. After saying goodbye to the boys, Peter escorts Jane back home, where Jane reconciles with Wendy and Danny. Peter and Tinker Bell meet Wendy again, though she is an adult, and they say goodbye. As Edward returns home from the war, Peter and Tinker Bell fly back to Neverland.

Voice cast

• Harriet Owen as Jane, Wendy and Edward's daughter, and Danny's older sister who refuses to believe in stories, but Peter changes her mind.
  • Owen also voiced Young Wendy. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Jane.
• Blayne Weaver as Peter Pan, the leader of the Lost Boys, and friends of Wendy and Jane. Pieter Lommerse and Andrew Collins served as the supervising animators for Peter Pan.
• Corey Burton as Captain Hook, the captain of the pirates. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Captain Hook.
• Jeff Bennett as Mr. Smee, Hook's first mate and sidekick.
• Kath Soucie as Wendy Darling, Jane and Danny's mother, Michael and John's older sister and Edward's wife. Ryan O'Loughlin served as the supervising animators for Wendy Darling. Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced Wendy in the original, recorded all of her dialogues for the sequel, but Soucie replaced her.
• Andrew McDonough as Daniel, nicknamed Danny, Wendy and Edward's son and Jane's younger brother.
• Roger Rees as Edward, a surviving soldier, Wendy's husband, and Jane and Danny's father.
• The Lost Boys, Peter's best friends:
  • Spencer Breslin as Cubby a lost boy in a bear costume.
  • Bradley Pierce as Nibs a lost boy in a rabbit costume.
  • Quinn Beswick as Slightly a lost boy in a fox costume.
  • Aaron Spann as Twins, the lost boys in a raccoon costume.
  • Tootles, a mute lost boy in a skunk costume.
• Frank Welker as The Octopus
• Additional Voices - Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Dan Castellaneta, Clive Revill, and Wally Wingert

Production

Disney MovieToons/Disney Video Premiere developed the project and then assigned the work for Peter and Jane to Disney Animation Canada. The film was a Peter Pan sequel originally designed as its first theatrical release. In fall 1999, the Canadian unit stopped work on what was then a video release. With Canada's closure, the work on Peter and Jane was instead moved to the Walt Disney Animation Australia and Walt Disney Animation Japan units. Cornerstone Animation was then contracted to do animation direction. The film moved back to a Disney MovieToons theatrical release. There were many changes made for this movie. Due to a legal dispute, the Native-Americans are completely absent in this movie, but it does show their teepees and totem poles in one sequence. Also following these changes, the mermaids are given brassieres since their appearances in its predecessor were considered sexualized.

Soundtrack

Joel McNeely composed the music for the film.

1. "Do You Believe in Magic?"
   • BBMak
2. "Main Title"
3. "Second Star to the Right"
   • Jonatha Brooke
4. "Tale of Pan"
5. "I'll Try"
   • Jonatha Brooke
6. "Jane Is Kidnapped"
7. "Childhood Lost"
8. "Here We Go Another Plan"
   • Jeff Bennett
9. "Summoning the Octopus/Pan Saves Jane"
10. "Flight Through Never Land"
11. "So to Be One of Us"
12. "Meet the Lost Boys"
13. "Now That You're One of Us"
    • They Might Be Giants
14. "Longing for Home"
15. "Hook and the Lost Boys"
16. "Hook Deceives Jane"
17. "Jane Finds the Treasure"
18. "Pan Is Captured"
19. "I'll Try (Reprise)"
    • Jonatha Brooke
20. "Jane Saves Tink and Pan"
21. "Jane Can Fly"
22. "Flying Home"
23. "Reunion"

Reception

Box office

The film opened at the third position at the box office behind Crossroads and John Q, earning $11,889,631. Return to Never Land grossed $48,430,258 domestically and $61,432,424 overseas, for an approximate worldwide gross of $109,862,682. With an estimated budget of $20 million, the film made a modestly successful theatrical release. It was before DVD sales, which had been the initially planned market for the film.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 45% based on 95 reviews and an average of 5.41/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With its forgettable songs and lackluster story, this new Pan will surely entertain kids, but will feel more like a retread to adults." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

Breslin was nominated for a 2003 Young Artist Award as Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role at the 24th Young Artist Awards.

Home media

Return to Never Land was released on VHS and DVD on August 20, 2002, and it took in only lukewarm sales. In November 2007, the film was released in a "Pixie-Powered Edition" and was also released in a Peter Pan trilogy, along with the Peter Pan Platinum Edition and Tinker Bell in December 2008.

The film was released on Blu-ray in August 2013, after the first Blu-ray release of Peter Pan. It was reprinted on Blu-ray in June 2018 as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive.

External links

• Official website
• Return to Never Land at IMDb
• Template:Bcdb title
• Return to Never Land at Box Office Mojo
• Return to Never Land at Rotten Tomatoes
• Return to Never Land at Metacritic