Disney Musical May 6 - You Can Fly

Think of a wonderful thought
Any merry little thought
Think of Christmas, think of snow
Think of sleigh bells, off you go
Like reindeer in the sky
You can fly!
You can fly!
You can fly!

Think of the happiest things
It's the same as having wings
Take the path that moonbeams make
If the moon is still awake,
You'll see him wink his eye
You can fly!
You can fly!
You can fly!

Up you go with a heigh and ho
To the stars beyond the blue
There's a Never Land waiting for you
Where all your happy dreams come true
Every dream that you dream will come true

When there's a smile in your heart,
There's no better time to start
Think of all the joy you'll find
When you leave the world behind
And bid your cares goodbye
You can fly!
You can fly!
You can fly! 

My feelings for this movie are rather complex.

As a kid, I couldn't get enough of it. Peter Pan was one of my idols, alongside Robin Hood, Pinocchio, and Mickey Mouse. I used to have a bit of a crush on John, too.

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Now I see Peter Pan as a bit of a jerk, although I'm well aware he's nowhere near as bad as the book. In the book, he's a lot more violent and practically sees killing as a game.

On the other hand, he's a greater advocate for women in the book. In the movie, he treats both Wendy and Tinker Bell very badly, although I feel the sorriest for Wendy by far. And, of course, his impulsiveness almost gets him and everybody else killed.

We can understand perfectly well why Captain Hook, even though he's the bad guy, is after him. Captain Hook is one of those rare villains I actually sympathize with while laughing at the same time. 

Now, to be fair, Peter Pan's perpetual immaturity goes hand in hand with his eternal youth. He honestly doesn't know any better and he does learn his lesson.

Which, needless to say, he learns the hard way.

What makes Captain Hook such an effective villain is he uses his enemies' greatest weaknesses to his own advantage. He combines Tinker Bell's petty jealousy with Peter Pan's chronic carelessness, and he comes within a mere centimeter of total victory. The only thing to truly save the day is Tink's change of heart.

At least by then, Peter has that long-overdue wake-up call. There'd be something very wrong with him if a massive explosion didn't shake him up.

And I like Return to Never Land because we can see Peter has matured to some degree while maintaining his youth and innocence. He's a lot more considerate of Jane, and refrains from laughing too much at her expense. When her crude raft falls apart and she despairs of ever getting home, he sincerely asks her if she's okay and offers to help her out. This I like.

So, overall, I don't necessarily hate Peter Pan. He simply irritates me a little more, at least in the first half.

Beyond that, I can see why more people are frowning on "What Made the Red Man Red." Unlike the crows in Dumbo, the racial stereotypes are more glowering in this one and it doesn't age nearly as well. But again, it's not as bad as the book and that was a fairly common conception of Indians in those days. 

And like I said before, I really feel bad for Wendy. Poor girl goes through a lot; it seems like everybody's out to get her for no good reason at all, not just Tinker Bell. Even her father's a little rough. At least Captain Hook is somewhat of a gentleman to her, even as he's making her walk the plank.

All that being said, this movie has plenty of redeeming factors, too. I can list many more good things about it than bad.

Captain Hook is a nice blend of scariness, silliness, and sympathy. I feel he's one of Disney's best villains, and an outstanding villain in general. When he's not cracking me up or tugging at my heartstrings, I admire his ingenuity, and I get an odd satisfaction from him telling Tinker Bell she's been "most helpful" before shutting her up and later lowering the bomb into Peter Pan's hideout, since he promised "not to lay a finger or a hook on Peter Pan." This guy would make a fantastic lawyer.

Of course, I find Hook the most entertaining when he's with Smee, the crocodile, or both. Smee is perhaps my most favorite character of them all; there's no dull moment with him around, and I've always liked the voice of Bill Thompson.

In the sequel, Smee is still funny and adorable as ever, and I don't really object to the giant octopus. Apparently the filmmakers couldn't think of anything else to do with the crocodile, since it had already been done, so they decided to invent a brand-new foe. Still, I must say I'm partial to Tick Tock.

And the animation is great, the music is great, and you can just tell they put a lot of heart into everything.

To summarize, I don't enjoy this movie as much as I had in my childhood. But I've never grown totally sick of it, either.

I may not love it, but I like it.