Return to Neverland picture image

Return to Neverland

Peter Pan; Return to Neverland is the 2002 sequel to Peter Pan from 1953. Peter Pan was not a favorite of mine, heck I had only seen parts of it till now. But Peter Pan for all intended purposes is a fun little adventure movie that hints at a little bit at a lesson at the end but Return to Neverland has a stupid hammered in lesson.

Peter Pan and Jane Return to Neverland picture image

Peter Pan and Jane

Story goes that Wendy is now a mother with two children that she tells Peter Pan stories to. But then no fun War World II happens and Wendy’s eldest child, Jane, become all practical and has no time for Peter Pan stories or dreams of being the first lost girl.

On the night before Jane and he little brother, Danny, are evacuated from London, Jane gets into a fight with Wendy and Danny because she doesn’t want to leave or something. That night, Jane is kidnaped by Captain Hook thinking she is Wendy. Hook is also being stalked by an Octopus, who for some reason pops in this version.

Pan comes to save Jane and them it’s snarky practical-minded Jane vs careless Peter. He takes her to the lost boys (who are a lot more annoying in this movie) and they try to teach her to fly so she can go home. The Boys then ruin her precious notepad (not sure why she had that with her). She gets mad and says she doesn’t believe in fairies and storms off.

The disbelief starts killing Tinkerbell. Hook runs into Jane and strikes up a deal where she has to find the the treasure Pan stole and get Pan to a place so Hook can capture him and in return Hook will take her home. In the process of her plot she comes to like Peter and the gang and becomes the first lost girl. But Hook finds them and Peter is all hurt that Jane betrayed him.

Jane then saves Tinkerbell and learns to fly and saves the day. Peter Pan then takes Jane home but before he leaves he says hi to Wendy. The movie ends with Jane regaining her childhood wonder and love of Peter Pan stories and her dad coming home from the war.

Captain Hook and the Popping Octopus Return to Neverland picture image

Captain Hook and the Popping Octopus

This is a clunky mess. I give it that it had more of a narrative than the original but narrative is full cliche “drama” and not as much fun whimsical innocence. Jane as character is pretty insufferable.

Hook and Smee were fun in the original but not so much here. Plus half the charm of Hook and Smee was with the crocodile and bless the creators’ hearts they tried and failed to capture that with the octopus. Why does it pop? The popping is so stupid. Why is it announcing itself to its prey? It was lame.

Then you have Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and the Lost boys who are all pretty annoying too.

Tinkerbell punching Captain Hook Return to Neverland picture image

Tinkerbell punching Captain Hook

Another insufferable aspect of the movie are the songs. The songs suck. The first one sounds very early 2000s pop. And if you watched this movie on the heels of the original like I did, the 2000’s pop next to the 50’s style is jarring to the point of madness.

They also got super lazy and used the 1967 song, Do You Believe In Magic
for the credit song. So we have a 1940’s period film mixed with fantasy adventure  with 2000 pop music and sunshine pop from the 1960s, fuck cohesion and style, this is a Disney sequel.

Jane with Nana II Return to Neverland picture image

Jane with Nana II (eyeroll for that name)

The juxtaposition of World War II and return to childhood whimsy is moronic. Jane is running through an Air Raid and then is berated from not wanting to hear stories about Pirates, flying boys and one sassy fairy. It just seem forced and half baked as a premise to oppose Neverland’s awesomeness with  World War II.

The girl was in more danger in Neverland than she was in War Torn London. Oh well Pirates and a popping Octopus are more fun than air raids anyway. But Jane is justified in  being practical in a War setting which robs the point about childhood being great.

Peter Pan and Jane Return to Neverland picture image

Peter Pan and Jane

As a sequel, Peter Pan Return to Neverland is boring. They played it very safe. They tweaked the crocodile to an octopus and didn’t touch the Indians with a 40 foot pole. If you want a better sequel to Peter Pan watch Hook at least that is a return to Neverland since Jane had never been there in the first place. I get that it a we the audience return but still. Didn’t care for this one. Not sure how it got a theatrical release.

Disney characters Cosplay  is a major presence at Fan Conventions (Anime, Gaming, Video Game, Comic etc). Groups of with these classic characters are big attention grabber but a group can deviate from it the characters traditional to make their both fun and a stand-out.

Here are some Ideas of what you can  do to jazz up any Disney Princess/Heroine group. Some have been done before and some haven’t.

Princesses to Extreme

Yaya Han as Mulan

Yaya Han as Mulan

Basically, you take basic design of the Disney Princesses & Heroines  dresses and make them even more opulent. You can use beading, fancy fabric anything you want to push it in to super ultra fancy.

Bollywood
Rework the  costumes into a chiffon sari. Don’t forget the bangles, tika and lots of kohl.

Steampunk
Put a Victorian spin of the costumes and then add a leather corset and googles.

Zombies

Zombie Disney Princesses

Zombie Disney Princesses

Shred the costumes, add blood and ghoulish make up.

Hipster

Hipster Jasmine, Ariel, Alice and Snow White ComicCon2012

Hipster Jasmine, Ariel, Alice and Snow White ComicCon2012

Modernize the costumes, add big black framed glasses and a clever phase about how you were ahead of the mainstream or just cooler in general.

Can Can

Can-Can dancers’ costume are all about the skirt that is covered with colorful ruffles on the inside. It’s a costume that is both fun and sexy.
FFX-2 Dress Sphere

Disney in Final Fantasy X-2 Dress Sphere inspired costume

Disney in Final Fantasy X-2 Dress Sphere inspired costume

The Dress Sphere was the Battle System in Final Fanatsy X-2. Basically the main characters change their clothes and they have a different set of abilities. The group was based of Fan-art by  Skirtzzz but given the variety of Disney Characters and Dress spheres the options are endless. What would a songstress Esmeralda look like?

Mermaids

Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into mermaids like Ariel. Tails would match skirts, So, for explain, Esmeralda would have a purple skirt (if based on her normal look) and a white top. But how would you add her corset? There is a lot of creativity  with the details with this idea.

Warriors

Instead of dainty and pretty costume toughen up the Disney Princesses & Heroines into ass-kicking ladies.

Superheroes

Superhero Disney Princesses by Heykannaya

Superhero Disney Princesses by Heykannaya

Like the Warriors idea the Disney Princesses & Heroines would be more Kick ass looking but with capes and masks.

Sexy

Sexy Disney Princesses

Sexy Disney Princesses

Shorten the hems and drop the neckline and you can sex up the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes.

Haute Couture

Designer Disney Princess Cosplay Collection by Street Angel

Designer Disney Princess Cosplay Collection by Street Angel

Instead of big poofy gowns rework the costume is sleek and elegant fashion inspired creations. http://street-angel.deviantart.com/art/Designer-Disney-Princess-Cosplay-Collection-335017438
Gender benders

Tinkerbell in more boyish clothes

Tinkerbell in more boyish clothes

Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into male-ish costumes.

Magic Girls/ Sailor Scouts

Manon Yapari did a Fan-art of the Disney Princesses & Heroines as Sailor Scouts (from Sailor Moon), this would be an attention grabber at any Anime Con but you could take the classic Magic Girl Costume tropes and apply them to Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes.

Wedding

Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into wedding gowns. I know Disney has  dolls of the Disney Princesses in wedding gowns but pending of you own style you can make an amazing gown for the princesses and/or the heroines What would Esmeralda wedding gown look like?
Ballerinas

Rework the Disney Princesses & Heroines costumes into Ballerinas.  You can design wo get a pancake tutu, a classic or a bell. This would a great group for those who can stand on pointe or just fans of ballet.

If you do any of these ideas with or without Esmeralda send them to me ^^.

Disney started releasing Direct to video(DVD) movies in 1994 with The Return of Jafar. Disney continued to bastardized their theatrical releases till 2007 with a prequel to The Little Mermaid called  Ariel’s Beginning. Since then they just release  TinkerBell movies.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II 2 Sequel Disney

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

A handful of the film are decent but many are just crap including the March 19 2002 release of the sequel of The Hunchback of Notre Dame . It features some of the same characters (excluding Frollo because if got lucky and was killed off in the first film).  Quasimodo, Clopin, Esmeralda, Phoebus, Djali, Achilles and the annoying ones are back in drab colors but with the original voice actors. There also three new dull as toast characters. Plus shit for music, art design and animation.

 

If you haven’t figured out it I think this movie is crap.

 

Next Time – The Crapastic Plot

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Disney picture image

Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

Here’s a picture of TinkerBell in Esmeralda’s costume. Consider it, TinkerBell cosplaying as Esmeralda for Halloween.  It’s more Fan Coloring done by me. You want to post it, give the Hunchblog credit please ^^ Enjoy

TinkerBell as Esmeralda costume Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame

TinkerBell as Esmeralda