In “Return to Neverland,” Wendy Darling is all grown up and married with two children of her own, Jane and Daniel. She tells them stories about Peter Pan every night, never forgetting the magical time she spent with him when she was a girl. But the world is becoming a scary place. World War II has just broken out and her husband has gone off to fight. Trying to keep her children entertained, she continues the stories, but her daughter struggles to believe. Jane is a very practical girl, and the war has made her even more so. She doesn’t understand why she should believe in something so silly.
The British government has decided to send all the children out into the country to keep them safe from the air raids that are becoming more and more frequent over London. The night before Jane and Daniel are to go, Jane gets into a fight with her mother, who wants her to take care of Daniel and tell him Peter Pan stories at night. Jane insists that they are silly, worthless tales and she won’t continue the tradition.
She falls asleep in tears, missing her father, feeling upset at the relocation, and the uncertainty of the world around her. But in the middle of the night, Captain Hook appears and takes her out of her room, whisking her away to Neverland. He has mistaken her for Wendy and wants to use her as bait to get his treasure back from Peter Pan.
When Peter comes flitting to her rescue, he’s amazed to learn that she’s Wendy’s daughter, but assumes that she’ll be like Wendy in every way. He doesn’t understand why she dislikes the island and why she wants to leave so badly. And when she says she doesn’t believe in fairies, Tinkerbell’s light goes out and she nearly dies.
It takes a little time and a lot of friendship, but Peter manages to convince Jane that imagination is not a bad thing. And when he returns her to her home, he visits with Wendy one last time, hardly recognizing her as an adult, but the seeds of friendship are still there, never dimmed by time.
This movie is not quite as good as the original, but it was a good sequel. My favorite character this time around was the big pink octopus who chased Captain Hook around with a slurp of tentacles as he went.
This film was rated G.
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