Lowery is serving Disney here, but they’ve clearly given the indie auteur of “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” and “A Ghost Story” a good deal of leeway to make the property his own. The London scenes in the trailer are sparkling and wondrous, while Neverland is in all earth tones. This isn’t a bad thing at all, but there has been a knee-jerk reaction to the marketing materials from Pan fans who grew up on the Disney animated movie and Spielberg’s garish misfire “Hook.”
Lowery knows what skeptics are thinking, and he wants them to know that his film is not some dreary reboot of a buoyant franchise. In an interview with SFX, Lowery assured viewers that his movie is an “adaptation of all the best parts of that film, with plenty of intervention and reinvigoration.”
The movie will, of course, veer away from the culturally insensitive depiction of the horrifically named “Piccaninny” tribe. Lowery has also broadened the ranks of the Lost Boys to include people of, gasp, other genders!
