How sad is this?

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I could not believe how unique this movie was. The route they took was honestly something I would have never thought of and something that works out perfectly. Great performances by every single person. Pan is actually a great GREAT casting. Stanley was simply perfect and so were every other casting. His portrayal was honestly perfect.

Set in the contemporary era, Diarmuid Lawrence's production opens in Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, where Lucy Rose (Hazel Doupe) is about to undergo a heart operation. Her mother Julie (Laura Fraser) is quite naturally apprehensive about what will happen, but kindly orderly Jerzy (Bjarne Henriksen) consoles her. With little or nothing to read, Lucy asks Jerzy to help her; he takes her to the Hospital's museum and gives her a copy of PETER PAN. Initially dismissing it as "kid's stuff," she eventually volunteers to read the book out loud to a group of children, who end up being captivated by the story.There follows a largely faithful retelling of Barrie's tale with the added dimension of Lucy's operation to hook our interest. The stories are linked by Stanley Tucci who plays three roles - Captain Hook, Mr. Darling, and Dr. Wylie, the surgeon in charge of the operation. The device works extremely well in emphasizing the connection between the Hospital and Barrie's story (Barrie bequeathed the rights to the tale to the Hospital), as well as emphasizing the importance of the tale to take children's (and the narrator's) minds away from unpleasant realities and create instead a fantasy-world in which people never grow up. Barrie originally told the Pan stories orally as a means to compensate for personal tragedies; Lucy rehearses precisely the same role.The narrative unfolds at a brisk pace, with the emphasis placed on Peter's (Zak Sutcliffe's) naivété; despite his bravado, he is quite simply a little boy lost, needing Lucy/Wendy's protection on his journey through the Never-Never Land. Tucci plays Hook with lip- smacking relish, but he is shown to be equally naive; his dislike of children owes a lot to his turbulent childhood when he was sent away to school by an unloving family. He needs Wendy as much as Peter.There is perhaps only one jarring note in an otherwise charming production: Paloma Faith's Tinkerbell is apt to use the kind of bad language that some families might consider inappropriate for their offspring. It is not really necessary, and eventually becomes rather irritating.Eventually the story ends happily for Peter, Wendy and Lucy. Although we mortals have to grow up, we can nonetheless exercise the power of our imaginations to project ourselves into that world where fantasy and reality are one.

Peter and Wendy is directed by Diarmuid Lawrence, written by Adrian Hodges and stars Stanley Tucci, Hazel Doupe, Laura Fraser and Paloma Faith.Lucy(Hazel Doupe)is a teenager who was born with a heart defect. As she's grown older her condition has gotten worse and she now needs a heart operation. Lucy and her mum Julie(Laura Fraser)travel to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London so she can have her operation. Lucy's surgeon Dr Wylie(Stanley Tucci)explains the procedure to Lucy and her mum and keeps her in hospital the day before the operation for observation.While she is waiting Lucy reads Peter Pan to some of the other children on her ward. As she reads the characters come to life in her mind and some of them resemble people she knows in real life. Dr Wylie becomes Captain Hook and Mr Darling and Lucy herself is Wendy, Tinkerbell is the singer Paloma Faith.Lucy experiences difficulty breathing and has to be operated on urgently, as she drifts in and out of consciousness she experiences the story of Peter Pan in her imagination.Tucci is excellent in three roles but I liked him the most as Dr Wylie, the scene where he gets Lucy to ask him about the operation because he can see she's worried is quite touching, as is the final scene between him and Lucy's mum. As Hook he is ice cold and also does a good job of making the character funny and grotesque at the same time.Hazel Doupe does a good job in portraying Lucy's fear about the operation she has to undergo and the possibility that she may die.Bjarne Henriksen is excellent as the kind hearted hospital porter Jerzy, it is he who gives Lucy the book to read.If there's a downside to this it's how Tinkerbell is portrayed, I didn't like that we had to be shown subtitles telling us what she says to Peter. In other adaptations this is unnecessary because Peter just translates what she says and we understand, also many of her subtitles contained bad language, I've no problem with that for adult audiences but this is aimed mostly at children and is therefore not appropriate.Despite that though this is well worth a watch for fans of Peter Pan. Also for anyone who loves getting lost in a good book and their own imagination.When JM Barrie wrote Peter Pan he gifted the rights to the book to Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1929. Since then royalties received from sales of the book and performances of the play go to the hospital. It was a beautiful thing to do and how fitting that a book which has brought such joy to children the world over helps ill children at the hospital now.