Rating: 
Summary: Pan is back and (almost) as good as ever...
Review: Really LOVED this Return to Neverland, especially being a Pan and Disney animation fanatic. But those facts don't jade my review. Story too short and predictable? Maybe, but Disney did so many clever things with this sequel, that they're difficult to recount here...the clever work with shadows early in the movie; the brief "re-telling" of the original story by Tink as she's scanning the clouds; recreating the voice inflections; great soundtrack...all first rate stuff. I miss the Indians (my favorites in the original), but they are paid their tribute as well. But the best work is the animation...Lilo and Stitch has been given raves for it's retro look, but this stuff REALLY nails the classic 50's Disney style, with great 3-D camera work, lush backgrounds and for a knock-off Disney sequel, well-drawn character depth...Buy it, own it, and shed a tear for a more innocent day gone by...the Pan lives.
Rating:
Summary: A good sequel as sequels go.
Review: It's the story of a little girl in a dark and trying time who learns the most important thing in life is to believe. A good follow-on to the original story.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good! A movie for all ages!
Review: I am 14 years old and I actually paid $3 to rent this movie today. I didn't think I would enjoy it because it was a Disney sequel, but if they had the guts to release it to theaters I thought it must be good. It was a great movie. The voices were great. The acting was great. My mom laughed at me that I rented this movie. I loved it! I need to own this movie. The DVD was awesome! The features were a little 1/2 and 1/2, but the video quality was superb. The transfer was entirely digital to digital which makes the quality very very sharp. The sound was okay for a Disney movie. When Tinker Bell tinks you can hear it very loudly. Anyway, here's a short summary of the movie: When Jane (Wendy's daughter) is kidnapped by Captain Hook (he's pretty much mutilated by an octopus in a couple of scenes that are very funny) and brought to Never Land. Jane doesn't believe in Never Land until she sees it for herself. Peter Pan then "adopts" her as a friend to the Lost Boys. But Hook has a couple of plans for Jane. I can't remember the first Peter Pan, but this movie is said to be almost exactly the same. Anyway, rent it before you buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: If you liked or love the first...
Review: ...Then you may want to miss this sad follow-up. Basically, it is a ho-hum replay of most of the scenes from the orginal. There is not an orginal thought in this movie, basically recycling plot after plot, and retelling plots that were wrapped up in the first one. The voices are terrible, not anything like the orginal-Smee is the ultimate in this regard. The animation is substandard, the computer animation seems out of place and from a video game of the same name, and the songs are GOD AWFUL! I am no musician, but this music makes me want to cringe. Also, to add insult to injury, the makers of this film bring in the themes from the orginal every once in a while to help to remind you that this is a sequal to a much better motion picture.
I haven't come to expect much from Disney movies lately. This is a good example of why Disney is a running joke in my household.
If you thought Little Mermaid 2, Cinderella 2, Hunchback 2, etc...were just as good as the orginal, then this movie is highly recommended. But, if the above mentioned titles are seen as terrible worthless pieces of animation with their recycled plots and subpar animation, then stay away from this movie, you'll be doing yourself a big favor.
Rating: 
Summary: terrible sequal
Review: This movie was a poor excuse for a sequal. It sounds like they did not even try to find voices that sounded at least a little like the original characters voices. Hook was just about the only one who sounded close! Also, Disney could have kept the music like in the first one instead of using the upbeat stuff that did not fit in. Neverland looked completely different, and they didn't even show the Indians. They used too much computer animation. It is not even worth renting. I would save my money for something else if I were you.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely wonderful
Review: After the Williams/Spielberg "Hook" fiasco, I wondered if even Disney could actually pull of a worthy sequel to their classic Peter Pan movie. I needn't have worried. Almost fifty years on, Return To Never Land fully recaptures the magic of the original. One reason this works so well is that the modern animators have remained true to the original character and set designs. Add to this an inspired piece of voice casting, which was essential and entirely successful in the Hook, Pan and Smee characters, and you have a fairly seamless continuation of the classic story. There are a few minor technical glitches, such as Wendy taking her son to the "bomb shelter" instead of the "air raid shelter" or "Anderson shelter", the appearance of Stuka dive bombers on a night raid, and the emergency vehicles using a type of siren that did not appear in Britain until the sixties. Still, this hardly detracts from what is a first class piece of entertainment. The animation is superb throughout and at times, simply breathtaking, especially the aerial sequences and the arrival of Hook's ship. On the heels of the utterly superb Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Return To Never Land is yet another example of Disney stamping their authority on the world of animation. The modern touches also work well in the mix, such as when Hook's ship passes through a mandala-laden stargate to reach the Never Land. The directions, "second star to the right and straight on till morning" were probably an allusion to Sirius, which was suspected of being a binary (twin) star even at the time of the original Peter Pan book. I know some people were disappointed with the movie and I respect their opinions, but for me, it worked brilliantly, and the soundtrack contains some classic songs. My youngest daughter watched it four times in a row upon getting it home (we bought it this morning - the release date for Canada) and she's normally a pretty stern critic of anything "average". A breathtaking first fifteen minutes and a beautiful ending sandwiching a highly entertaining middle section. Hey, that can't be so bad.
Rating:
Summary: Is it worth returning to Never Land?
Review: Disney's most recent direct-to-video sequels aren't very entertaining. Sure, most of them are entertaining to youngsters, but for us older kids and parents; it's not even worth buying or RENTING from a video store! I was afraid that Disney's Return to Neverland would turn out bad; like all the other Disney sequels. All I thought it would be was another Disney failure, just in the theaters. Since I'm real interested in history (especially World War II), I decided to test Disney's knowledge of World War II in "Return to Neverland", and actually, it was pretty accurate! When Hook's ship was flying through London, with the air raids and the planes, it makes it look like you are right there flying!
Some of the animation isn't the best, but it's very good for a Disney sequel. I thought that Disney made this sequel a LOT better! I really recommend it!
When "Return to Neverland" comes out on Video/DVD, I'm going to buy it!
Rating:
Summary: The Best Disney Sequel in A Long Time!
Review: Disney's straight to video sequels are obviously going downhill. "Return to Neverland" was started as a straight to video sequel, but after a close look at the story, Walt Disney Feature Animation decided to give it a higher budget and release it in theaters. The animation was smooth and there were several good computer animation sequences. It really is a clever story picking up from where the original play ends. At the end of the play, Wendy is all grown up with a daughter, Jane. Peter, holding to his promis, comes back for Wendy who can't return to Neverland since she is grown up. So he takes Jane. In the movie, because no one in Neverland has a sense of time, Captain Hook kidnaps Jane mistaking her for Wendy. Peter rescues Jane, but is having an awful time trying to teach Jane how to fly so she can return home. Jane's father has not come back from WW2 and Jane and her brother are going to be placed in a shelter away from their mother. It is a little darker than the original and in no way is better, but it is still good and suitible for the whole family to sit and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: You Can Sink!
Review: Neverland? More like "Never again." A lackluster effort churned out by Disney's television animation team (and seemingly written by a computer), _Return to Neverland_ still managed to dredge up decent box office from movie-starved families back in February 2002. Of course, _Return_ plays shamelessly on boomers' fond memories of Disney's _Peter Pan_ (itself a thoroughly gutted adaptation of J.M. Barrie's stage play). But for some reason that I cannot fathom let alone explain, _Return_ consistently sabotages the light-hearted tone that made the first film at least palatable, if not especially distinguished. Parents be warned: _Return to Neverland_ is a very SERIOUS children's film. If one were to judge by this sequel, one would suspect that the original playwright was not J.M. Barrie, but Ibsen or Chekhov. So what the deuce was Der Maushaus thinking? With an unlikable sourpuss for a heroine, terrifying scenes of the London blitz, and the lingering near-death of a major character, no one has any fun in Neverland this time around. Even a generous dollop of pixie dust in the third act can't keep this film from crashing and burning. Still, a typically solid DVD package from Disney mitigates the grinding disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing for a Disney to say the least.
Review: First off, I'm 21 years old but still have a place in my heart for cartoons and Disney usually does an excellent job of putting on a good show for both children and adults. This movie fell short by a huge margin. Most animated movies produced in the last 10 years have had something for both children and adults. This one hopes to entertain little kids at best. As plot goes, Disney suceeds in telling the same story that the told in Peter Pan with a few alterations. The story revolves around a trip from the real world into Neverland and the strange antics that go on there. Then after a time the main character's decide that they want to go home. The battles that are fought with Captain Hook take place again in this movie and it comes across as being almost exactly the same. The characters to struggle to be different from the original Peter Pan. The main thing they did was change the names. Wendy's daughter (Jane) is now the main character. She is too grown up to believe in Peter Pan which is the only destiguishing aspect of her character. The other main character change was the alligator. Now instead of an alligator with a clock in his stomach there is a giant octopus chasing Captain Hook, and he does the exact same things that the alligator did, snapping his suction cups instead of the clock ticking. The story itself is only differed by the way Jane gets to Neverland, being obducted by Captain Hook, instead of going willingly with Peter. And the subplot with Tigerlily and the indians isn't included or redone. The music in this movie falls way short of what you'd expect from a full length Disney feature. The oscar winning composers of several Disney movies must have left this one up to the understudies. The music, while trying to stay true to the original, was matched with lyrics that didn't even fit into the patterns that were played. And while that sells records for bands like "System of a Down" it just didn't work in this movie. The rhythm of most of the songs was so uneven that it sounded like a 4 year old wrote them. And the Lost Boy song alone made me very anxious for the end credits to come up and I can usually watch a movie two times in a row without getting bored. There really isn't any aspect of this movie that gives me reason to recommend it to adults who might want to see this movie. Something is just missing. My recommendation, watch another Disney movie, like the original Peter Pan or just let the little kids can watch it by themselves while you watch something that has a little more to it. The Breakdown:
1. Plot-6 (Same story as original, typical sequel by disney)
2. Characters-5 (Same characters as the first, some just in different form)
3. Flow-5 (Slow pace, songs dragged a lot)
4. Atmosphere-4 (Nothing special, songs actually took away points)
5. Animation-5 (Hook's ship was neat but everything else was to simple)
6. Entertainment factor-4 (I liked Peter Pan, but this sequel was pretty boring)
7. Replay factor-1 (The only way I'll ever see this again is if my kids want to watch it some day)
8. Character Depth-4 (Bad replacements for characters in the original)
9. Relevance to genre-3 (I expect more from Disney)
10. X-factors-2 (A few funny moments but that was it)
39/100
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