Return to Never Land

Return to Never Land (also known as Peter Pan 2 or Peter Pan In: Return to Never Land) is a 2002 American animated musical fantasy-adventure film produced by Universal Cartoon Studios, Warner Bros. Feature Animation, Amblin Entertainment, American Zoetrope, The Zanuck Company, DisneyToon Studios and Cornerstone Animation and released by Universal Pictures in North America and Warner Bros. Pictures internationally. The film is a sequel to the 1953 film Peter Pan, based on J. M. Barrie's most famous work Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. The movie had a worldwide box office of $109 million.

The film follows a girl who refuses to believe in her mother's story during the Blitz in London, only to be mistakenly brought to Neverland by the pirates. In order for her to get home, she meets Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys who encourage her to fly and make her believe.

Plot
In World War II, Jane Darling is Wendy's daughter who refuses to believe in stories about Peter Pan. She is mistakenly abducted by Captain Hook and his crew, who sail through the sky on their pixie-dust enchanted ship, evade an air raid alert and escape back to Neverland.

There, Hook plans to feed Jane to the octopus (who replaced Tick-Tock the Crocodile) in order to lure Peter into a trap. However, Peter rescues Jane and Hook escapes from the octopus, returning to the ship. After recognizing and asking Jane to follow Wendy's footstep, Peter takes her to his hideout to be the mother of the Lost Boys, but Jane refuses and gets stranded. The next day as the boys fail to teach Jane about flying, she upsets them and does not believe in fairies, making Tinker Bell sick. That night, Hook tricks Jane by lying that he will not harm Peter and she agrees to help him find the treasure. Hook gives Jane a whistle and leaves.

Jane asks Peter and the boys to play a game of "treasure hunt", and they wish Jane to believe in fairies and save Tinker Bell. As Jane finds the treasure and changes her mind into discarding the whistle, the boys make her the "Lost Girl" before Tootles finds and inadvertently blows the whistle. As the pirates arrive to capture the boys, Peter calls Jane a traitor and tells her because she does not believe in fairies, Tinker Bell is dying. Jane rushes back to the Lost Boys' home, but gets to Tinker Bell too late. Jane, realizing she is the reason Tinker Bell is gone, breaks down in tears for her, but she revives. They head to the ship and see Hook forcing Peter to walk the plank. With Tinker Bell's help, Jane learns to fly. As Peter drops the anchor on the ship and sinks into the sea, the pirates, riding on a rowboat, are pursued by the octopus.

After saying goodbye to the boys, Peter escorts Jane back home, where Jane reconciles with Danny. Peter and Tinker Bell meet Wendy again, though she is already an adult, and they say goodbye. As Edward returns home from the war, Peter and Tinker Bell fly back to Neverland.

Voice cast
Unlike the original film, new actors (including Neil Patrick Harris, Alec Baldwin, D.B. Sweeney, Robin Williams, Haley Joel Osment, Robert Loggia and more) and characters replace them for the sequel. Kathryn Beaumont, who voiced Wendy in the original, recorded all of her dialogues for the sequel, but Ginnifer Goodwin replaced her.
 * Harriet Owen as Jane, Wendy and Edward's daughter, and Danny's older sister who refuses to believe in stories, but Peter changes her mind. Lianne Hughes served as the supervising animator for Jane Darling.
 * Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Pan, the leader of the Lost Boys, and friends of Wendy and Jane. Pieter Lommerse and Andrew Collins served as the supervising animators for Peter Pan.
 * Alec Baldwin as Captain Hook, the leader of the pirates. Bob Baxter served as the supervising animator for Captain Hook.
 * Robin Williams as Mr. Smee, Hook's sidekick.
 * Ginnifer Goodwin as Wendy Darling, Jane and Danny's mother, and Edward's wife. Eden Riegel also voices Young Wendy Darling in the beginning of the film. Ryan O'Loughlin served as the supervising animators for Wendy Darling.
 * Andrew McDonough as Daniel "Danny", Wendy and Edward's son, and Jane's younger brother.
 * D.B. Sweeney as Edward, a surviving soldier, Wendy's husband, and Jane and Danny's father.
 * The Lost Boys, one of Peter's best friends
 * Spencer Breslin as Cubby
 * Bradley Pierce as Nibs
 * Haley Joel Osment as Slightly
 * Aaron Spann and Pamela Segall Adlon as Twins
 * Robert Loggia as the Narrator, who narrates the prologue.
 * Mae Margaret Whitman as Tinker Bell a tinker fairy.
 * The additional voices were provided by
 * Jeff Glen Bennett, Dan Castellaneta, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Kevin Michael Richardson and Wally Wingert as the Pirates
 * Clive Revill as the elderly officer

Production
Disney MovieToons/Disney Video Premiere and Warner Bros. Featured Animation developed than assigned the work for Peter and Jane to Disney Animation Canada. The film was a Peter Pan sequel originally designed as its first theatrical release. In fall 1999, the Canadian unit stopped work on what was then a video release. With Canada's closure, work on Peter and Jane was moved to Australia and Japan units. Cornerstone Animation was contracted to do animation direction. The film moved back to a Disney MovieToons and Warner Bros. Featured Animation theatrical release

Soundtrack
Hans Zimmer (which he replaced Jerry Goldsmith) and Joel McNeely both composed the score of Return to Never Land. Later the additional music was also composed by Steve Jablonsky while the additional music arrangements were also provided by James Dooley, Rupert Gregson-Williams and Mel Wesson. Also the original themes from the 1953 film originally written by Jerry Goldsmith appeared for the sequel.
 * 1) "Do You Believe in Magic?"
 * 2) * BBMak
 * 3) "Main Title"*†‡ - Hans Zimmer (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * 4) "Second Star to the Right"
 * 5) * Jonatha Brooke
 * 6) "Tale of Pan"* - Hans Zimmer (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * 7) "I'll Try"
 * 8) * Jennifer Love Hewitt & Bryan Adams
 * 9) "Jane Is Kidnapped" - Hans Zimmer, Gavin Greenaway & Steve Jablonsky
 * 10) "Childhood Lost" - Joel McNeely
 * 11) "Here We Go Another Plan"
 * 12) * Dom DeLuise
 * 13) "Summoning the Octopus/Pan Saves Jane" - Joel McNeely
 * 14) "Flight Through Never Land"* - Hans Zimmer & James Dooley (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * 15) "Here I Am"
 * 16) * Bryan Adams
 * 17) "So to Be One of Us" - Joel McNeely
 * 18) "Meet the Lost Boys"* - Joel McNeely (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * 19) "Now That You're One of Us"
 * 20) * They Might Be Giants
 * 21) "Longing for Home" - Hans Zimmer, Gavin Greenaway & Rupert Gregson-Williams
 * 22) "Hook and the Lost Boys" - Hans Zimmer & Steve Jablonsky
 * 23) "Brothers Under The Sun"
 * 24) * Bryan Adams
 * 25) "Hook Deceives Jane" - Joel McNeely
 * 26) "Jane Finds the Treasure" - Joel McNeely
 * 27) "Pan Is Captured"* - Hans Zimmer & Rupert Gregson-Williams (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * 28) "I'll Try (Reprise)"
 * 29) * Jennifer Love Hewitt & Bryan Adams
 * 30) "Jane Saves Tink and Pan" - Hans Zimmer, Gavin Greenaway, Rupert Gregson-Williams & James Dooley
 * 31) "Jane Can Fly"* - Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonsky & Mel Wesson (Jerry Goldsmith)
 * 32) "Flying Home" - Hans Zimmer
 * 33) "I Will Always Return"
 * 34) * Bryan Adams
 * 35) "Reunion"*† - Hans Zimmer & Mel Wesson (Jerry Goldsmith)


 * * includes Original Themes from "Peter Pan" by Jerry Goldsmith
 * † includes "You Can Fly, You Can Fly, You Can Fly" by Sammy Fain and Sammy Cahn
 * ‡ includes "Following the Leader" by Jerry Goldsmith, Leslie Bricusse and Winston Hibler

Box office
The film opened at the third position at the box office behind Crossroads and John Q, earning $11,889,631. Return to Never Land grossed $48,430,258 domestically and $61,432,424 overseas, for an approximate worldwide gross of $109,862,682. With an estimated budget of $20 million, the film made a modestly successful theatrical release. It was before DVD sales, which had been the initially planned market for the film.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 46% based on 94 reviews, with an average of 5.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With its forgettable songs and lackluster story, this new Pan will surely entertain kids, but will feel more like a retread to adults." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 49 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades
Breslin was nominated for a 2003 Young Artist Award as Best Performance in a Voice-Over Role at the 24th Young Artist Awards.

Home media
Return to Never Land was released on VHS and DVD in August 2002, and it took in only lukewarm sales. The version went out of print in January 2003. In November 2007, the film was released in a "Pixie-Powered Edition" (which was dedicated to the loving memory of the great American composer Jerry Goldsmith) and was also released in a Peter Pan trilogy, along with the Peter Pan Platinum Edition and Tinker Bell in December 2008. The Pixie-Powered edition went out of print in January 2009. The film was released on Blu-ray in August 2013, after the first Blu-ray release of Peter Pan.