While theatrical movie audiences are getting ready for the live-action version of Disney's The Little Mermaid to arrive very soon, there is another in Disney's ridiculously successful line of live-action remakes of animated classics that will be here even sooner. Peter Pan and Wendy will arrive on Disney+ in April, and the first trailer is here. It looks like a pretty exciting adventure, but the most exciting thing may be the film's Captain Hook, played by Jude Law.
Since the majority of the cast of Peter Pan and Wendy are child actors, there aren't a lot of stars in the group. Disney made up for this by bringing in Jude Law as Captain Hook, and he looks incredible as the pirate captain, mostly because he barely looks like Jude Law. Check out the trailer above and a look at Jude Law below.
What's most remarkable about Peter Pan and Wendy, from what we can see in the trailer, is how the film seems to be balancing the elements of the animated Disney film with what are very clearly some original ideas. We see a surface-level recognition of Disney's classic Peter Pan. Michael's teddy bear and John's top hat are here. We see the children jump off the clock tower on their way to Neverland. We even see Captain Hook's pirate ship flying.
But obviously, this is not just a straight retelling of the animated Disney movie in the way that live-action remakes like The Lion King and Aladdin were. While the plot may still follow the same general beats, there's definitely a bit more of an action-adventure feel to this trailer than the magical fantasy story fans are familiar with.
There's also the fact that the title is a little different to give us a strong indication of where this new movie is going. While Wendy was always the closest thing to the main character that the animated movie had, we can see that Wendy is the true protagonist here. The trailer sets up a character arc for her, that interestingly, may lead the live-action remake to have the opposite ending as the animated original.
We also, interestingly, see that one group of supporting characters that will make the jump from animation to live-action are the Neverland Indians. The characters based on Native Americans have certainly not aged well in the original Peter Pan, so we'll have to see how they're handled this time around. There is one significant improvement that we can see in the trailer, as this time Tigerlily at least gets to have actual dialogue, as she's completely mute in the animated Peter Pan.
It's hard to argue that of the live-action remakes Disney has made specifically for Disney+, there have been more misses than hits. Perhaps Peter Pan and Wendy is the exception we've been looking for. We'll find out when it hits Disney+ on April 28.
