Not surprising; the whole “we specifically reject casting Native Americans for this Native American role; white actresses only, please” spoke to me of a certain tone-deafness.
I’m sure Joe Wright would say: “But you loved anachronistic pop songs in ‘A Knight’s Tale’! I shouldn’t have let the studio cut the scene of Captain Hook singing ‘Crocodile Rock.’”
In all fairness, I really don’t envy the studio on that point—I don’t think there’s any “good” option they could have gone with regarding the Indians, these days. Depict them just as they were in the book? “You’re using horrible Victorian stereotypes!” More modernized versions? “Cultural appropriation! New age ‘Noble Savage’ stereotyping!” Use actual Native American actors and a meticulously researched and accurate depiction? “They’re just there to be inspiring supporting characters for all the white characters!” Cut them out completely? “Whitewashing! You’re memory holing POCs from the story!”
It still under copyright in the UK and few other countries. You also have to pay royalties to the Great Ormond Street Hospital if you want to show it in the UK.
As for me, I saw Peter and the Starcatcher (based upon a book cowritten by Dave Barry) last year. You can’t top it as a Peter Pan origin story. If nothing else, the phrase “Oh, my God” will always make you smile.
And, yes, it has singing, though it’s hard to hear the biggest musical number over the audiences laughter.
Yeah, I saw the trailers and thought So yeah, another film about following your star and believing in your self and trusting your destiny and then your dreams will come true and you’ll be able to fly. Flying’s hard work, kid, get up early, practice harder, and pick up a few cuts and bruises.
For an interesting alternate take on Peter Pan, they could do worse than to adapt Lisa Jensen’s recent novel Alias Hook. It presents James Hook’s point of view, presents him as an immortal who plays out the cycle of conflict with Peter over and over, and postulates that there are many “Wendys” who come to Neverland, stay with Peter a while, and leave when they realize Peter is never going to reciprocate their feelings. It does a good job of presenting Hook as a sympathetic character without too much sugar-coating, and shows what happens when an adult woman from the “real” world (post-WWII London by this point) “dreams” herself into Neverland.