Metascore
64 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 33
  2. Negative: 1 out of 33
  1. Like the schoolkids in this adventure, from the opening images to the closing credits, I do, I do, I do believe in fairy tales.
  2. 88
    tT never grow up is unspeakably sad, and this is the first Peter Pan where Peter's final flight seems not like a victory but an escape.
  3. 83
    Hogan whips up a high-energy family entertainment that fairly erases memory of the other filmed versions of Barrie's tale.
  4. 80
    The movie belongs quite rightly to Wendy, the most enchanting little girl in English fiction, and to the untrained actress, Rachel Hurd-Wood, who plays her.
  5. Uniquely jacked into a ripe sense of antique-nursery Victoriana and buzzing with a pre-adolescent metaphoric charge, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan is a primary text of modern culture, and P.J. Hogan's live-action rendition is the only one, screen or stage, to completely uncage this changeling and give it flight.
  6. Mr. Hogan understands both themes, and his filmmaking style is a perfect mixture of wide-eyed wonder and slightly melancholy sophistication.
  7. 80
    Imbued with a greater degree of psychological darkness than before.
  8. 75
    It's as if the movie itself has been sprinkled with fairy dust, and good thing, too: The world of Peter Pan is, at heart, so troublesome that it might as well also be enchanting.
  9. Hogan's version brings out the story's somber side, showing how the mischief of unworldly characters like Peter and Tinkerbell can do real damage, and how refusing to grow up is an awful idea if you actually try it.
  10. Both enchantingly old-fashioned and daringly modern.
  11. Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    75
    Though the story dawdles at times, the visuals are splendid.
  12. Reviewed by: Carla Meyer
    75
    A dazzling retelling of the J.M. Barrie tale, offers accomplished acting, splendid visuals, and in the role of the boy who won't grow up ... an actual boy.
  13. Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    All Peter Pan lacks is a Peter Pan with any discernible personality, no matter that Jeremy Sumpter is the first actual, genetic boy to play the role on film.
  14. 75
    Unlike last year's disastrous "Pinocchio" with Roberto Benigni, this movie proves worth the time, effort, and money to get the whole family to a theater.
  15. 75
    Even at its most hyperactive, Peter Pan has a core of good and bad feeling that will hit home to kids and to adults with honest memories.
  16. It's gay in the old-fashioned sense, a giddy whirl for the senses, from chilly English drawing rooms to lush Neverland jungle. It's innocent in believing love banishes all ills, even physical ones, and inspires unthinkable heroism.
  17. A bright, whirling pinwheel of a movie that tosses around special effects like confetti, but the techno magic is graced with a touch of sensuality.
  18. 70
    It's tacky and beautiful, sometimes both at the same time. Occasionally flatfooted even as it sparkles, the film suffers when Hogan lets the scenery do the directing for him, but he's chosen a cast capable of shouldering the film's weight.
  19. Though being magical is very much its intention, it never manages to cross the threshold that makes that happen in our hearts.
  20. 70
    It's a bad sign when you can't name or differentiate any of the Lost Boys.
  21. 63
    Overall, though, this new Peter Pan does really soar.
  22. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    Peter is as adequate as the Harry Potter movies are, though you never sense in either case that kids are being bitten with the permanent movie-loving bug.
  23. 60
    Simultaneously groundbreaking and remarkably faithful to the classic play.
  24. Reviewed by: Chris Hewitt
    60
    Tonally the film is never more than the sum of its parts, while Sumpter, although physically perfect, just isn't charismatic enough as Peter.
  25. The film suffers from uneven acting, an over-reliance on production values and an uncertainty over how dangerous the children's adventures should be.
  26. 50
    Despite a hint that Peter (Jeremy Sumpter) and Wendy (Rachel Hurd-Wood) might get it on, there's nothing to crow about.
  27. 50
    As far as production values go, this Peter Pan is a work of art. So why, then, does the movie feel so crushingly dull?
  28. Lush, loud and sparkling, and not nearly as innocent as you might imagine.
  29. 50
    If you can get past the ick factor inherent in these suddenly adulterized relationships –- and there's really no way this film should have received a kid-friendly PG rating –- and latch on to the film's wealth of metaphor, you'll surely have something to discuss over coffee post-screening.
  30. The film provides solid entertainment for kids but lacks any real sense of wonder and magic.
  31. Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    50
    Handsome, respectable and well cast, elaborate production lacks the excitement and magic that would elevate the film to beloved status, and sheer abundance of CGI work weighs on it too heavily.
  32. Lavishly produced -- overproduced, actually -- and persistently unexciting.
  33. Needs more than happy thoughts to get off the ground.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 97 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 60
  2. Negative: 3 out of 60
  1. I loved the old animated movie made by Disney, and when I heard about this movie, I couldn't wait to see it, but this turned out to be awful, I absolutely hated this movie, bad acting, unlikeable characters, and boring moments, this is one you could pass on watching. Full Review »
  2. people should like this one. it has epic storytelling, great character development, rad visuals, and awesome music. this movie is beast!
  3. KellsieP.
    10
    I think you should give it a 10 ,it was one of the best kids movies ever and Jeremy Sumpter is one of the sexyest people i have ever seen heshould be in heaps of movies, i think people would like to see more of him like i would. Full Review »