Movie Review: Wendy

The timeless story of Peter Pan is reimagined in the wildly inventive and engrossing Wendy from director Benh Zeitlin. But the real treasure of the film is young star Devin France who bedazzles and electrifies the screen as the titular character.

Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, the fabled Wendy must fight to save her brothers, gain her freedom, and retain the joyous spirit of youth all while constantly battling the deadly specter of adulthood in this enchanting film from Searchlight Pictures, and the director of Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). Simply put, this is not the legend of Peter Pan you may be familiar with. This is a new vision of the character from a gifted director, told primarily from the perspective of the character of Wendy, the young girl who accompanied Peter and the Lost Boys on their adventures and skirmishes against Captain Hook in J.M. Barrie’s original tale (as well as its countless interpretations).

While Zeitlin’s film is beautiful as well as epic in its scope, it is France who binds everything together with her performance. Other characters are given moments to shine, notably Yashua Mack as Peter, but it is France who carries the film from beginning to end (which is understandable given that the film takes its title from her character’s name). She is indeed a “lost girl,” if you will, who finds herself, and her way back to her family in the universe of Neverland and it is this journey that is the crux of the film.

Devin France in “Wendy.”

Cowritten with his sister Eliza, Zeitlin’s script is simple, yet complex. There are deep issues of childhood and innocence lost at work here and occasionally explored perhaps a little too blatantly. But the film is a joy to watch. There isn’t a frame where there isn’t some sort of visual delight to partake in. Dan Romer’s score too keeps the sense of freedom the Lost Boys feel swelling throughout. Even the loss of innocence, embodied in the arrival of a certain Captain, is handled not as a traditional tale of pirate adventure and plundering, but as one lamenting the aforementioned loss of innocence and childhood.

There is a lot going on in Wendy, and while it may not connect for all, those it does connect with will feel a profound love of it and will more than likely become very protective of it, much as the way the Lost Boys feel about their freedom from growing up.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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