Peter Pan

Back in the day, when I was a little kid, I loved Peter Pan. I feel like it was the first adventure movie I had ever watched that didn't have to do with Princesses. It was about a regular girl who was visited one night by a boy who took her away to have marvelous adventures. But as psychologist tell us, these boys- who offer adventure- rarely offer stability or love, because sooner or later, the girl wants more than just a 'good time' and the boy runs off to stay a boy and girls grow up. I mean, really that's the basic gist of the tale, that girl's are more mature than boys, and that everyone has to grow up so why try to relive your high school glory days, guys?
The thing is I really loved it as a child, despite the subliminal messages, and really carried a torch for the story as I grew up. I remember vividly one day in school when we were reading the book Lord of the Flies, I was looking at the paperback version, with the blonde boy on the front with green leaves and twigs all in his hair and thinking, 'Hey, THIS is how I always imagined Peter Pan..." I was also always grossly disappointed that there was never anything going on with Peter and Wendy. Even after we got the taste of jealousy Wendy had over Tiger Lily, their romantic relationship was never developed. Of course there was Hook and the Disney and Mary Martin version, but none of them seemed really satisfatory to how I had invisioned Peter Pan. Then Christmas of 2003 came, and Autralian director P.J. Hogan released his live action, male lead, CGI packed version of Peter Pan. I was in total and utter awe. This Peter Pan was everthing I had ever hoped, wished, wanted in a telling of Peter Pan. A cute little blonde boy played Peter, the set and scenery was magical, Hook was actually SCARY, and the music was incredible. I was 13 years old and cried 3 times the first time I saw this movie. It was amazing, AMAZING. I had never had any other movie complete and blow my mind so entirely. I saw Peter Pan the day it came out, and every day for the rest of the week. I saw it in theaters a total of 14 times, then bought the movie as soon as it came out, bought the soundtrack, was given the movie poster as a birthday present, and then one of my friends went to Hollywood and got Jeremy Sumpter's autograph and gave it to me as a present. I liked this movie a little bit. I ate, drank, and slept Peter Pan for about 2 years until I felt a little too Michael Jackson-y.