WENDY – Review

Over the last few years the “Mouse House” has gone “all in” on doing live-action remakes of their Animated features film classics. Now we’re not talking about the Pixar flicks, though CGI has certainly been enlisted to give the more fantastic elements. Though it stuns me to say it, kudos to the Hollywood Foreign Press and their Golden Globe awards for pointing out that one such remake was not “live-action” but rather a computer-animated feature. These raids of the Disney “vault” target mainly their 1937 to mid-1990s output. Last year was almost a deluge with digital “re-do’s” of DUMBO, ALADDIN, and THE LION KING, with LADY AND THE TRAMP streaming on the Disney+ app. Ah, but one hasn’t been “tech’d up”. Maybe because it originated in live-action, on stage because unlike most of the classic fairy tales (the Grimms, Anderson, etc.) it’s just a bit over a century old. And the approach by the filmmakers is quite unlike the big “D”, very gritty, grimy and modernized, set in the states (mostly) and starring a very diverse cast of untrained, first-time actors. Pretty much like the producers’ last flick, the strange, magical BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD eight years ago. They’re making their mark on this familiar tale by doing a switch on its title. Rather than that boy who “never grew up”, they’re focusing on WENDY.

It is indeed Wendy who we first meet as an infant, cradled in the arms of her mother Angela Darling (Shay Walker) as she runs (cook, waitress, and “busser”) a ramshackle diner, where it’s always “eggs o’clock”, precariously close to the railroad tracks somewhere in Louisiana, USA. A brief dissolve and Wendy’s a toddler, tossing eggs on the grill, walking the counter, and watching her older twin brothers Douglas (Gage Naquin) and James (Gavin Naquin) dance to the “jukebox”. The years pass and pre-teen Wendy (Devin France) is entertaining the boys with her own crafted magical stories, filled with monsters and pirates. The kids long for their own real adventures as they gaze out the bedroom window, above the diner, mere feet from the trains. One night she spies a grinning boy beckoning her from the top of a slow-moving boxcar. Climbing out onto the overhanging roof, Wendy leaps onto the train, quickly followed by the twins. They soon catch up to the boy of eight or nine years. Peter (Yashua Mack) wears shorts and a ragged schoolboy jacket as he gestures to them with his “sword’ (a kid-sized machete). To the shock of the Darlings, Peter pushes them out of an open boxcar, into the river below. Nearby one of Peter’s friends waits in a canoe. They all climb aboard and paddle to a lone island with a smoke-belching mountain at its center. Exploring this strange place, the Darlings meet with several other kids, including a boy from their town who has been missing for years. But he’s not aged a day. Peter tells them that they will spend their days having fun and they will never grow old. All sounds great, but Wendy wonders whether she saw a scraggy, long-haired old man lurking in the forest. And what is the mysterious glowing giant fish in the lagoon?

Once more, as with their previous film, the producers seem to have struck cinema “gold” in the casting of their lead actress. Newcomer France gives a remarkable performance as the title character eschewing showy histrionics for a restrained and very natural portrait of a young woman suddenly living out her daydreams. Through her round expressive eyes we see her sense of wonder over the strange land and its breathtaking creatures (human and animal). But she’s also very grounded, as she tries to watch over her older brothers while feeling homesick, riddled with guilt imagining her mother’s heartache over their absence. She’s a great counterpart to Mack’s Peter, who only seems to be care about himself in his quest for fun adventures. His playful antics can suddenly shift to childish rants and tantrums, as he insists that everyone must follow his impulses. The Naquin twins are all rambunctious energy, always on the move until a tragedy alters them, emotionally and physically. Walker, as their hard-working mom, is a nurturing force of nature, as she puts on a brave face, adoring her “angels” despite her own hardships (just what became of the patriarch).

In creating this new spin on an iconic story, director Benh Zeitlin, who co-wrote the screenplay with sister Eliza, sprinkles magic throughout, both in the “real” settings (the diner practically rattles off the ground with every passing train) and in a most unique take on “Neverland”. That locale is the island of Montserrat, south of Antigua, site of an active volcano which looks to erupt with every step of Wendy and these “lost boys”. Steam shoots from random spots on its rocky beach, adding an air of constant danger, but delighting Peter, who thinks he can speak with the mountain spirits. There’s a nice radiant warm glow to the photography, perhaps due to its use of 16mm (little electricity on the isle). The older film stock helps add to the surprisingly effective special effects as the kids float amongst the fantasy fish and fauna seamlessly (no dark lines or wise are seen). Zeitlin guides the acting “newbies” with great skill, making us feel as though we’re watching kids from the neighborhood at play. It’s engaging compelling “magic realism” that renders Barrie’s tale fresh and urgent. WENDY floats on a whimsical cinematic trip through our old childhood dreams.

3 Out of 4
WENDY opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre