If you want to make a lousy movie, make something based on“彼得·潘。”It has been the ticket to cinematic Palookaville for decades, and the latest, “Come Away,” is no exception.
This new version, directed by Marin County filmmakerBrenda Chapman(“Brave”), tries something new. The screenplay, by Marissa Kate Goodhill, blends “Peter Pan” with some elements from “Alice in Wonderland” and tells the story of a loving but struggling biracial family living in Britain at the turn of the 20th century.
Dad (David Oyelowo) is a craftsman with a troubled history as a gambler — he owes money to the mob — while the three children enjoy gamboling through the woods, pretending to have grand adventures. Mom (Angelina Jolie) holds the family together, telling beautiful fantasy stories aboutfairies, though when things get tough, she has a bottle in a locked desk drawer to calm her nerves.
The movie quickly runs into the two challenges faced by any “Peter Pan”-derived movie. The first is child actors. Of necessity, young children monopolize the screen in a Peter Pan movie, and the fact that kids aren’t generally the best actors becomes a problem. This problem doesn’t manifest when kids have a line or two, but when kids are doing all the heavy lifting in a scene, it’s like watching a school play when you don’t know anyone in the show.
In ‘Come Away,’ Marin filmmaker Brenda Chapman uses classic children’s characters to explore grief
One way to circumvent this is to cast children whose essences are so right for their roles that they barely have to act at all, but just relax enough in front of the camera so as to let their spirits show. Such is the case with Keira Chansa, who is self-confident and adorable as Alice. But Jordan A. Nash as Peter has difficulties. Deep into the film, someone says, “Peter was born to be Pan,” and this comes as a surprise. Really? He looks miserable and anxious virtually from beginning to end.
Perhaps this was a casting problem, but it’s also one of direction. This is Peter Pan, folks. There should be a big personality going on here. There should be confidence, and exuberance; otherwise, why is he so intent on staying a boy? In “Come Away,” his boyhood is anxious and troubled. At least, once he gets older, he might have some money in his pocket, meet a nice girl …
Which brings us to the second challenge faced by all “Peter Pan” movies: The world Peter escapes to has got to be good. It should makeyouwant to escape, too. But here, as always, the big adventure is never anything but a bunch of kids on a boat. When you were a kid, were you ever on a boat? It was OK, maybe. But a steady diet of that, with those shrieking kids’ voices, for all eternity? Think about it: Do you regret the fact that you haven’t been on that same boat every minute of every day since? I don’t think so.
So “Come Away” is bleak in its two realities, in the real-life world and in the world of fantasy. Bad things happen. Mom starts drinking. Dad is a mess. But hey, if you’re Peter, you can just go on a long boat ride to nowhere and pretend to be a pirate! Isn’t that great? No. Actually, no. Not even a little.
Still, the production values are top-notch, and there are just enough scenes with actual adults that the movie never quite collapses. Especially strong are the scenes betweenJolie and Anna Chancellor, who plays her stuffy older sister. One sister has children, the other money, so each has what the other needs and lacks. Michael Caine also shows up as an old cockney gambler (at this point Caine just has to show up to make things better), and there’s something touching in the way Oyelowo conveys a deep, fathomless affection for these children.
But these scattered moments are as much a relief from the movie as they are the movie’s essence. “Come Away” is an idea that never takes flight.
L“Come Away”:Fantasy drama. Starring Jordan A. Nash, David Oyelowo, Angelina Jolie and Keira Chansa. Directed by Brenda Chapman. (PG. 94 minutes.) In select theaters and video on demand starting Friday, Nov. 13.