Have a hankering to return to Neverland? Nevermind

Lost Boys hawking up big gooey spit gobs for a group handshake? A runny nose wiped on another Lost Boy's ear? Writer James M. Barrie must be rolling over in his grave over Disney's latest variation on his 1904 play, the beloved children's classic, "Peter Pan."

MOVIE REVIEW

RETURN TO NEVERLAND

DIRECTORS: Robin Budd, Donovan Cook

CAST: Voices of Blayne Weaver, Harriet Owen, Kath Soucie, Corey Burton

RUNNING TIME: 72 minutes (with a cartoon, "Pluto's Fledgling")

RATING: G

WHERE: Bella Bottega, Cinema 17, Crossroads, Everett 1-3, Factoria, Gateway 8, Issaquah 9, Kent 6, Longston, Majestic Bay, Meridian 16, Metro, Parkway Plaza, Renton Village, Woodinville 12

GRADE: C-

"Return to Neverland," after a genteel and very proper "British" beginning with Wendy (voice of Kath Soucie) -- now grown and happily married with two children -- evolves into something that's comparable to a football locker room melee by the final reel.

Nevermind that its hero in this installment (as in most of Disney's animated films from the past decade) is a heroine -- Wendy's capable and orderly daughter Jane (voice of Harriet Owen). There's simply an awful lot of modern custom and slang for a movie set in a World War II-torn London, where Jane's dad has been sent to battle and Wendy, Jane and her little brother, Danny, who believes in Neverland and Peter Pan, have bigger worries (such as the bombing) than Captain Hook's high jinks.

When the children are scheduled to be moved out of the city the next day to a house in the country designed to keep them safe, Jane refuses to go. She scolds and chastises her sensitive little brother for his belief in their mother's stories of Peter Pan, Lost Boys, Tinker Bell and Neverland.

But in the dark of night a strange thing occurs: Hook appears, kidnaps her and whisks her off to the mysterious Neverland in order to complete another dastardly plot against his long-time nemesis, that mischievous boy who won't grow up, Peter Pan (voice of Blayne Weaver).


		DISNEY
	Peter Pan helps the pragmatic Jane believe in herself, not to mention him, the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell and Neverland, as well as learn faith and trust.

It's up to Peter, the Lost Boys and Tinker Bell to help Jane believe in herself and to find the "faith, trust and pixie dust" that will prevent Hook from overpowering his old rival, give Jane the means to return home and fulfill her promise to her absent father to take care of the family and keep them safe until his return.

The animation and backdrops are lush and inventive, yet "Return to Neverland" never manages to take us to that elusive, lovely place where we suspend our disbelief. Its harsh opening and shadow of wartime tinge it with a hard reality that can't let us forget that the world is a tenuous place, and having a heroine as resolute and pragmatic as Jane doesn't help either. Nor does the potty humor.

Even a young viewer seated behind me at the preview screening cried out, "Ships don't fly!" after Hook's galleon took to the skies. Not only did it not engage the adults, its lackluster story line didn't spread much illusion or magic over the kids in the audience either.