Pan falls short at being either an imaginative origin story for Peter Pan and/or a satisfying standalone big-budget fantasy adventure, when all is said and done. Director Joe Wright’s usual inventiveness as a cinematic storyteller gets lost amidst the CGI malaise of the film, while the movie’s attempt to craft a more complicated mythology out of the relatively simple Peter Pan story might’ve worked – but would have required a far less conventional and run of the mill approach, in order to do so.
With that is mind, Pan is a family-friendly offering (if a hollow one) and serves up enough stylish eye candy – while also keeping the proceedings light – that it could be more pleasing to some moviegoers, especially those of a younger age. However, as far as Peter Pan movies go, there have been far better renditions – be they traditional live-action adaptations (see, for example, P.J. Hogan’s 2003 Peter Pan) or continuations of the original story by J.M. Barrie (see Steven Spielberg’s Hook).