Wendy: NZIFF Review

Perhaps the most obviously commercial offering of the New Zealand International Film Festival for 2020, Wendy has pedigree in its director, the creator of the wondrous Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Blessed with a prodigious lead in Devin France as Wendy, Benh Zeitlin's take on the Peter Pan story is a film that's more in love with the land and its leads than in its actual storytelling.

When Wendy tires of her life in a railwayside diner, she is startled to see another kid atop a train. Jumping on the train with two friends, she finds herself transported to Neverland and into the life of Peter Pan.

JM Barrie's tale is gifted an environmental feel in among Zeitlin's eye for the wild. 

Through the deltas and over the lands of the heartland of America to the lost island, Zeitlin's freewheeling camera makes a great fist of the landscape, and recalls many of the shots of Beasts of the Southern Wild.

While not every child actor hits the necessary straps, and while the older section of the actors feel too ragtaggle to be complete, the exuberance and wide-eyed nature of France makes for a great companion on this journey.

"The more you grow up, the less you get to do the things you want" may be a fair adage espoused at one point, but thanks to a haunting score, talent when it's needed and a sense of adventure, this is a Peter Pan story like you've never seen before.