‘NEVERLAND’ (2011) SYFY TV REVIEW
The wonderful world of children’s books and the legends that accompany them is often something viewers take great pleasure in re-visiting. Perhaps it’s because it’s a small piece of our childhood that we can re-capture for a few hours. Following up their immensely entertaining miniseries about a girl who didn’t know her story is in bits and pieces of a dream, and an iconic yellow brick road, SyFy takes on the world of Peter Pan. This, a nearly three hour miniseries, shows us the legend like we’ve never experienced before.
Neverland (2011) SyFy Miniseries Review
There is a doorway, a kind of portal to the mystical, unknown world of Neverland. Once it encounters human contact, it’s virtually impossible for that person to ever return to their own land. For years, this place has been capturing unsuspecting victims into its world. It is on turn-of-the-century London streets that a group of pickpockets come across this orb. Led by the young, idealistic Peter (Charlie Rowe), Peter has a loyal fondness for the man who rescues them all from the streets. Jimmy (Rhys Ifans) is a skilled swordsman who not only suffers personal tragedy but also loses his place in London society. Now his life as the care-taker of a group of urchins, but he wants more. As a result he enters into an agreement with a man to steal a specific piece from a prominent jeweler.
Wanting to someday become Jimmy’s partner in crime, Peter rallies his friends and they set out to prove he can be a leader. Before anything can be done, Jimmy comes onto the scene and catches them in the act. Something goes wrong and all but Peter disappear into no other place than Neverland. Pursued by a man who appears to be Jimmy’s employer (Charles Dance), Peter transports himself to the world to save his comrades.
Once there, Peter encounters a protective band of Indians including the lovely Tiger Lily (Q’orianka Kilcher) and discovers that his friends are in the custody of the fierce Spanish pirate, Captain Bonny (Anna Friel). Forging a tentative alliance with Bonny, James “Jimmy” Hook wants to retrieve a potion that allows humans to fly. Then Bonny uses Hook for his futuristic knowledge while Peter finds his loyalties tested.
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‘NEVERLAND’ (2011) SYFY TV REVIEW #thearchives Share on XSyFy has surprised me with its ability to entertain us through its creative outlets. The last two miniseries to air on the network were great fun. (Especially if you like spunky heroines and silly dramatics.) Although I’m probably most familiar with the source material of this production, unfortunately, this is the one I think least of. Poor visual effects seem to rule and nearly ruin the entire production unless one simply lowers expectations. It seems somehow odd that the effects are in such poor taste; the editing room is an endless place of resources. Sadly, the team assigned to this production didn’t max out that budget… or it was in terribly pathetic and poor taste if they did so.
Countering its underused and underwhelming sound and special effects that should have been igniting our imaginations in such a production is some decent, nothing-to-sneeze at acting. Rowes lead gives us a naïve but determined Peter while such seasoned stars as Dance and Knightly add name recognition. Although we cannot help but love to hate her, it’s fun to see Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) again. Also, this isn’t a proper review if I don’t point out that Ifans makes an excellent villain; and we all know that he needs to be so in order to better compliment the heroes. Costuming isn’t horrible and the music shines at times.
Though you could do worse in a magical journey, Neverland is¸ the least impressive to come from SyFy. Having said that¸ it still has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Content: Implications suggest Jimmy and Bonny are sharing a bed – once we see them naked in bed together before they are interrupted and must cover up [we see backside nudity¸ waist up]. There is some swordplay and some characters die from their wounds [an alligator terrifies characters]. One man’s hand is sliced off [some blood]. Elsewhere others are threatened and/or double-crossed.
Fun!
I just posted a review about the man who had wrote Peter Pan.
SyFy movies always stink. They have too small a budget to get good actors (usually — this one had a better cast than most) or terrific special effects. Their television shows are usually fairly good, but I've never been impressed with any of their miniseries. Thought this one was worth watching once, but once was enough!
Ella – this was a fun one. It is mostly under-whelming because of its special effects but still, it was entertaining. :-)
I can remember watching Finding Neverland but its ending is one too sad for me to want to re-visit with frequency. Johnny Depp is superb though!
Charity – this one may have the name recognition but I prefer the other two a great deal more! Oddly enough, this is the story I am most familiar with of the three and I enjoyed the live-action version of Peter Pan from several years ago.
Too bad SyFy cannot get more of a budget because their movies do have imagination!