Peter Pan (2000)

It might seem heresy to baby boomers with fond memories of Mary Martin singing and flying on NBC, but this beautifully produced A&E restaging of the musical, starring gymnast-turned-actress Cathy Rigby, eclipses the beloved 1960 Martin kinescope in almost every way.

The reworked script is both funnier and truer to J.M. Barrie's story, and sets, effects and choreography are more lavish and better done. Rigby, a fine actress and singer, might be less technically polished than Martin; but not only is Rigby — with her athletic build and tomboyish physical and vocal performance — a much more credible boy than the womanly Martin, but Rigby's spectacular acrobatics and physical exuberance elevate the role to a new level, too.

Pan's personality is also truer, for Pan, though fearless and merry, is also vain and heartless, having no mother to teach him otherwise. He wants Wendy for a mother, but Wendy can't become a mother without first becoming a wife, and Pan refuses to accept her in that role. Barrie's themes of childhood magic and selfishness, and of grown-up roles and responsibility, are well served in this retelling.

Casting, notably Paul Schoffler as Mr. Darling/Hook and little Drake English as Michael Darling, is first-rate.

Ideal entertainment for the whole family.

Content advisory: Mild swashbuckling action.

Peter Pan (1953)

For millions of children and adults, Disney's Peter Pan is the only Peter Pan, and while it's neither the best retelling of J.M. Barrie's nursery tale nor the best Disney cartoon of the era, it is, fortunately, a decent enough example of both. Barrie's whimsical inventions (a St. Bernard for a nursemaid, Peter Pan's separable shadow) and most magical moments (the Jolly Roger taking flight) work well in an animated context.

The tunes are cheerful if not outstanding; “You Can Fly” is probably the most memorable of the bunch. Equally significant the-matically is “Your Mother and Mine,” resonating with Barrie's theme that Neverland, while a magical place, is also a rather heartless place, for there are no mothers there. (Note how even the pirates, lurking outside the Lost Boys’ hideout waiting to capture them, are affected by Wendy's ode to motherhood, and Smee weeps uncontrollably over his “Mother” tattoo.)

As MGM did with The Wizard of Oz, this retelling of Peter Pan shifts the story's magic from the real world to the world of a child's imagination.

Now it is Wendy, not Mrs. Darling, who sees Peter and catches his shadow, and the children, instead of vanishing for days on end, are now found drowsing in the nursery — as if they dreamed the whole thing.

Content advisory: Mild swashbuckling action; exaggerated American Indian stereotypes.

Peter Pan (1924)

One of the best silent films for the whole family, this magical production of Peter Pan is true to both letter and spirit of J.M. Barrie's nursery tale.

Largely retaining theatrical trappings from the author's own stage-play version of the story, the film incorporates some location shooting and charming special effects, bringing Neverland to the screen in a unique way.

Continuing a stage convention that would extend to subsequent film versions, Pan is played by a petite woman, teen-aged Betty Bronson, who brings tomboyish energy and dash to the role.

Ernest Torrence blusters as Mr. Darling and sneers with foppish malevolence as Captain Hook, and Mary Brian makes a charming Wendy. The stage flying effects work just as well onscreen, and George Ali reprises his delightful costumed animal performances from the stage as Nana and the crocodile.

Going beyond stage-bound productions, this Peter Pan includes the flying Jolly Roger, close-ups of Tinker Bell and a unique scene in which materials for a house gathered by the Lost Boys magically assemble themselves around the unconscious Wendy. (One curiosity is Hollywood's unabashed Americanization of Barrie's British sentiments, including changing phrases such as “English gentlemen” to “American gentlemen” and replacing the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes!)

Content advisory: Mild swashbuckling action, including a scene in which Pan kills a number of pirates in silhouette.