everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Sky Movies gives us a two part TV Miniseries which details the origins of Peter Pan, the Lost Boys and Captain Hook, here starting out as a gang of London thieves, with 'Jimmy' Hook a fencing instructor and ex-socialite. One day, sent out by a mysterious client, the group come upon a magic orb, which ends up transporting them to, where else, Neverland. Of course, this isn't the first time the orb has brought people to Neverland, as the group soon discover both a Native American tribe and a band of Pirates. Loyalties are tested, promises broken and destruction awakens as Hook and Peter's once strong bond is gradually torn apart.Too compressed and often in a hurry, 'Neverland' is never outright boring, mainly thanks to a terrific cast, but it squanders them and its premise with indecisive, clunky storytelling and a lack of charm or humour. Writer-Director Nick Willing assembles a lot of great ideas (having Hook and Peter being friends in a pseudo-paternal relationship, exploring the nature & history of Neverland, seeing Hook's downfall and temptation to evil, the ever present fears of death and growing up, much lie the original take) but is also trying to balance them out with action setpieces and a number of auxillary subplots (including one involving a secret society and alchemy, another involving the fairies and their city, yet another involving the pirates trying to take over the fairies and steal their magic, leading to yet another WE'LL 'RULE THE WORLD' plot complete with bloated monologues) and well, you can already see what's wrong.Despite the generous two and a half hour runtime, the series is in such a rush to do everything that a lot of ideas feel half baked, and are not allowed a full resolution. The first episode in particular has enough material and plot threads to last two or three episodes of a longer miniseries. Heck, for a supposed 'prequel', there are a number of inconsistencies and errors that don't quite match up with the original take (Peter's memory is finicky but intact, Tinkerbell is a little too wise and ultimately, how Peter travels without the orb in the end is never explained.) And the mediocre action, complete with crash zooms to make it more 'intense', and lax CGI, even by TV standards, don't exactly help matters either.A real shame as the cast here are quite solid. We have a decent selection of child actors, with Charlie Rowe doing a fairly good job as the mischievous yet charismatic Peter (though he almost never shuts up during the first episode and Willing keeps giving him exposition to say). However, this is very much Rhys Ifans' show as Hook, and he absolutely nails; by turns tragic, lovable and threatening, Ifans commands the screen every time he's on. Supporting them are the likes of Anna Friel as Captain Elizabeth Bonny, Charles Dance as the alchemist, Q'orianka Kilcher as Aaya (Tiger Lilly) and Charlotte Atkinson/Kiera Knightley as Tinker Bell, body and voice respectively. They are all good, but don't get a whole lot to do, with Dance relegated mainly to exposition about Neverland and the orb. Oh, and Bob Hoskins is back as Smee, but he is wasted with no real material to work with.In the end, 'Neverland' isn't horrific television, but it is really pedestrian and ultimately, disappointing. Everything here was assembled to make it work, and yet, a muddled script that tries to do so much with so little time just leads to a great big mess, and not something I'll be desperate to see again. Say what you wish about 'Hook', at least it had charm and knew what it wanted to be. This doesn't, and that's just sad.

If your like me who love these classic stories then you should agree with me that this mini-series is a contrived sci-fi mess. What makes this so bad is that it commits the sin that most fairy tale/ fantasy adaptations do these days; "trying to make sense of the story". When movies, TV shows or any other form of media attempt that it really destroys the magic and dignity of the stories. If you are like me and is a lover of classics I'd avoid this dung pile and stick with your books. Besides why watch this when there are far better Peter Pan adaptions such as; The Disney movie, Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates, Hook, or even the 2003 live-action movie.

I love to watch the story of Peter Pan. I've seen almost every-one created and I think this one is my favorite. I loved the twist to it,I never thought that Peter and Hook were friends,that made me want to watch it more. I wanted to see how Peter and Hook became enemies and now that I know I would love to see a third with Peter and the Lost boys defeating Hook and the many adventures that they have.I also found it interesting that the reason Peter could fly was because he had died and Tinker bell and the fairy's saved his life by giving him there power. This sy-fy miniseries was the best, with many interesting creatures that gave it a turn to the little animated ones i watched as a child. Forexample, a man eating spider, that was a nice touch and the crocodile having 6 legs. That was really cool!

I absolutely loved this miniseries! It's amazing, from the script and dialogue, to the actual plot of the movie. The characters are well written and their actions are believable and reasonable. I think this movie did an excellent job in telling the story behind Peter Pan. They did not do something wildly stupid that it seems like it barely fit the original story of Peter Pan. This movie did such an amazing job of breathing life into his background, and as it explains some events that J.M. Barrie left unknown (like how Captain Hook got his hand cut off), I would gasp and say, "SO THAT'S WHY!". The plot is wonderfully written! :) It was gripping and enchanting from the beginning to the end. The very first scene which was a sort of prologue was really cool, because it left you wondering what happened to the ship that disappeared, but at the same time you wouldn't forget that it happened. Very cool. And I love how the Lost Boys were originally orphans on the street. It fit them so well, and I loved how they worked together to create mischief and things like that. The whole idea of the "orb" (if that's how u spell it?) I always wondered where the heck IS Neverland? Peter always says "It's the second star to the right, and straight on till morning" but as romantic and pretty as that sounds, I never understood it. The "orb" doesn't fit that description about stars, but is just as interesting. Once you strike or shoot the orb, you are immediately transported into the world of Neverland. What I also love about this is that this miniseries also explains why a person in Neverland never ages! They explain that it is in the center of the universe or something, and that time stops in Neverland. I'm not TOTALLY sure how, but it does sound very cool. :) The adventures in Neverland is spellbinding from the beginning to end. Everything the boys face, and every time they fight the pirates is so much fun! There's not a boring minute in this movie, which I love. The "lady-friend" (Bonny) is a really cool addition. I don't know how to explain it, but it made the movie very fun, and I just love her character! Her desire to rule Neverland by finding this "mineral" that allows a person to fly is so cool. It's similar to Peter and the Starcatchers, but no offense, but that book series is terrible. This...far surpasses it. Sorry. getting off topic. Anyways, once Peter acquires the mineral, he is able to fly! The whole idea of being able to go back and forth through the orb is my favorite invention of this miniseries. The actors of this movie are superb :) I wouldn't wish for any other cast. The man who plays James Hook is marvelous! He's handsome, but he's also brings a very cool angle to Hook. In the beginning, "Jimmy" is a friend and father like figure to Peter, which is SO interesting. It's a very nice twist. But as the story goes on, his greed and lust for power drives away his morals and kindness, and he turns into a cold hearted man who is eventually Peter's enemy. I loved what they did with the character of Hook. It was phenomenal. Charlie was a very nice Peter Pan in my opinion :) He has intelligent eyes, and he's handsome. He also has spirit, which is not EXACTLY Peter, but as the movie goes on, I think he does better. By the end, I'm convinced that he is the perfect Peter :] Tinkerbell was a bit weakly written, because although we learn her love and bond with Peter Pan, there's not much about her. But with all the action and events going on, they barely had time for her. Although I understand why she was underdeveloped, I feel like they could have put more effort and created a twist for her as well. Her back story with Peter should have been stronger and more gripping. I also think Smee could have been a MUCH stronger character, as he is such a familiar character. I mean seriously, the crocodile had more action in this movie than him. On the other hand, I really loved the portrayal of the Indians. It was strong and you can see their kindness to the boys. The whole idea of the crocodile eating Hook's hand ALONG with the very watch that held Peter's mother AND Hooks ex-lover's picture...was fantastic. WONDERFUL. As someone else mentioned, whenever the croc came ticking for Hook, he was also a sort of ghost from the past, come to haunt him. Very interesting twist :)People have complained about the scenery and effects, but seriously? It was more than tolerable for me. I loved it a lot. It did not do one bit of harm to the movie's "amazing-ness".As you can probably guess, this is my first review on this website, so forgive me! I went off topic a lot, and I just pretty much rambled about which parts I loved the best ;) But yes, I think this movie is absolutely amazing. Not only was the action thrilling and the actors wonderful, it had a lot of emotional impact in it which I thought was perfect. Awesome script, lovely cast, amazing characters. Any true Peter Pan fan would fall in love with this miniseries. This is my favorite Peter Pan spin off, whether in books or in movies :) It did J.M. Barrie's original Peter Pan the justice it deserves. <3 Thank you, Syfy for making this!