Movie Time for Stay-at-Home Streaming!
by Bonnie L. Harris
Unenchanted Adventure Arriving at Neverland
Fox Searchlight Pictures Rated: PG-13. Streaming on Amazon
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any versions of Peter Pan, from J. M. Barry’s original play to Disney’s animated movie, tell a whimsical, enchanted story of the boy who refused to grow up. Wendy, the new film by indie director Benh Zeitlin, however, goes a darker route with an allegorical tale set in the rural South that contains all the familiar elements such as Neverland, Captain Hook, the lost boys, and Wendy Darling, but turns them upside down in a much sinister way. Although
beautifully shot and uniquely reimagined, it’s the type of film a cinema class would analyze for themes and symbolism rather than a movie watched for uplifting entertainment.
Wendy and her twin brothers, James and Doug, live above a greasy spoon Café alongside a busy railway station and help their mother serve its patrons. It’s a poverty-stricken existence and young Wendy dreams of better things. One eerie night, she sees an African-American boy atop a freight train and she urges her brothers to follow him. The boy, Peter, leads them to a mysterious, tropical island were adventure knows no bounds and they discover a friend, Thomas, who disappeared years ago. Strangely, Thomas hasn’t aged and Peter shows them “Mother,” a large glowing fish,
who magically keeps children young when they sing to her. Wendy eventually discovers that total freedom has serious flaws, and when Doug is presumed drowned, she and James want to go home. Peter convinces them to stay and help save Mother from mortal peril, but it costs James his hand in a gruesome scene that doesn’t belong in a movie for kids. Wendy makes her way home while James decides to remain and become Captain Hook. Zeitlin deserves credit for his effort, but I’d recommend Wendy only if a mature teenager needs an unconventional topic for a term paper.
FOR THE PARENTS Record Setting Adventure The Aeronauts Amazon Studios, Rated: PG-13 Streaming on Amazon
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ood theatrical releases are getting sparse these days, so I’m glad to reach back a couple of months for a hidden gem called The Aeronauts, an Amazon original movie I missed when it debuted. Loosely based on the record breaking hot-air balloon flights in the late 1800’s, The Aeronauts takes its viewers on a spectacular, death defying, white knuckle voyage that’s wonderfully thrilling. Eddie Redmayne plays James Glaisher, a meteorologist before anyone knew it was
previous flight. Together, they upend the stuffy scientific world by collaborating on the historic possible to predict the weather, and Felicity trip while confronting their personal demons Jones plays his flamboyant pilot, Amelia and battling the atmospheric elements. Rennes, whose husband was tragically lost on a And the higher they float, the quicker the temperature drops, the faster the ice forms, and the thinner the air becomes until James passes out and Amelia is left to save them both. If going up was treacherous, coming down proves almost lethal and the two explorers must use every ounce of courage they have to reach the ground. It’s a wild ride, and no wonder that The Floating with the Aeronauts is the most watched butterflies movie to date on Amazon.
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