Line #1 NightmareFuel/PeterPan


1	%%
2	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1632332613090337600
3	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
4	%%
5
6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peter_pan0.jpg]]
7
8	As fantastical as the ''Peter Pan'' films are, they demonstrate a lot of cases of worries in which children are whisked away to a land of dangerous creatures and killers by a magical immortal boy with barely any conscience and a self-centered focus on having fun. Even at the cost of the lives of others.
9	----
10	!!Animated film:
11	* Peter Pan himself, if not for his CuriousQualmsOfConscience, would be a straight-up VillainProtagonist. He's a dirty deconstruction of ImmortalImmaturity. He's an immortal flying elf child trapped in eternal youth, yet is also virtually amoral and would put your life in danger for a laugh - he even inflicted DisproportionateRetribution by feeding Captain Hook's hand to the crocodile, for little more than a prank. He does things on a whim, treats people rather insensitively and as if they're all playing a game, and doesn't consider their feelings. The end result is that Wendy, [[BrokenPedestal the girl he wanted in Neverland to never grow up and was once a huge fan of his, tires of both him and Neverland and decides to leave]] ([[DownplayedTrope although she doesn't lose]] ''[[DownplayedTrope all]]'' [[DownplayedTrope respect for him]]). He's also more than happy to banish his lifelong friend Tinker Bell without much trouble if she offends him enough. His first appearance when sneaking into Wendy's home to find his shadow, with a creepy pan flute {{Leitmotif}}, highlights his puckish and downright malignant tendencies.
12	** The fact he essentially kidnaps Wendy to take her to Neverland, all so she can tell him stories about himself and serve as his "mother" forever is creepy in itself. He also nearly gets the kids killed when he forgets to give them Pixie Dust to make them fly.
13	* Neverland itself is filled with malignant magical creatures, such as the Mermaids who try to make a game out of attempting to drown Wendy while Peter Pan just laughs. Not to mention Cannibals as Cannibal Cove will prove.
14	* Tinker Bell is a blatant example of CuteAndPsycho in the film in that her first reactions was to try and [[MurderTheHypotenuse kill Wendy]], when she thought Wendy was taking Pan's attention from her. She smugly admits her murder attempts later and feels no remorse before and after the fact. Not to mention how she glows red with a noticeable DeathGlare when angry. Even creepier is that her glow isn't just luminescent; when she glows red, she's hot enough to [[BurningWithAnger burn through leaves with ease.]]
15	* The number of gruesome deaths the Darling kids could have gone through would have given their parents heart attacks. Wendy almost falls to her death after being shot by the Lost Boys, she's despised and nearly killed by Tinker Bell, picked on and nearly drowned by the mermaids, and captured by Hook who also tries to kill her. Her brothers are nearly burned at the stake by the Indians.
16	* Captain Hook, though LaughablyEvil, can be downright terrifying and murderous when angry. He kills his own crewmembers on a regular basis and blatantly murdered two of them for annoying him. He also had no problem trying to kill the Darling children and Lost Boys if they refused to join his crew, and tortured Tiger Lily with the promise of drowning her to lure out Peter Pan. Hook's own crew (barring [[ButtMonkey Smee]]) are implied to be just as murderous, and used to plunder ships and slit throats until Hook focused all their efforts on killing Peter Pan for taking Hook's hand.
17	* The [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile Crocodile]] is acknowledged as In-Verse Nightmare Fuel for Hook in that it's a SuperPersistentPredator who loved the taste of Hook after eating his hand, so much so that it will forever chase Hook until it can eat the rest of him. Thanks to eating Hook's alarm clock, Hook now can always know when death is near by the sound of his clock's ticking getting closer.
18	* The bomb scene. Talk about MoodWhiplash. Everything before and after it is, even at the highest stakes, cartoonishly slapstick swashbuckling. Then Hook plants an explosive in the Lost Boys hideout and it's animated as a realistic, lethal, fiery explosion followed by the somber, charred landscape of Neverland's once lush forest.
19
20	!!Live-action film:
21	* The 2003 film really hammers it in that Hook is a dangerous, vicious adult fully capable and willing of harming children. He knocks Peter around hard enough to draw blood and grabs Wendy by the throat at one point.
22	** In particular his interactions with Peter and Wendy play off on the idea of a vulnerable minor alone with a predatory adult.
23	--->'''Hook:''' My new obsession is you, not dear Peter Pan or his whereabouts.
24	** Wendy, hiding alone in the ruins of the Black Castle, is too entranced at first to be afraid of the character from her stories but the scene takes a dark turn when Hook comes close to finding her. The way he brandishes his pistol suggests he would have attacked her on sight.
25	* Just a day in Neverland causes Wendy to nearly forget her parents and she's visibly unsettled when she realises this. Then, when she asks her brothers who their parents are, they reply with utter conviction that she and Peter are mother and father.
26	* The mermaids, who are played far creepier and less human than both the book and the animated film. They look more like something out of ''Franchise/HarryPotter''.
27	* Even though the Crocodile is a SuperPersistentPredator who's after Hook after tasting his hand, it's usually a source of comedy by causing Hook's over-the-top freak outs and has usually a minor role in most adaptations. But in this movie you can actually understand and share Hook's horror as this Crocodile is by far the most frightening it has ever been depicted; a grotesque ''Deinosuchus''-like behemoth brought to life with some PracticalEffects to look more real. There's also the scene of John and Michael encountering and angering the Crocodile in its cave, showing that its lethality isn't reserved for Hook only.
28	** Reducing the terror somewhat, the crocodile only attacks them after ''they'' bother it implying that it is ''not'' just a mindless creature, thus ramping the scares back up - it can ''think'', as shown in the Castle scene. It ''could'' attack Peter and company on the boat, but it doesn't - because it wants Hook. It ''actively chooses'' to let them go, choosing to take Hook instead.
29	* The film maintains the dubious distinction of being the only adaptation to show Hook's mottled arm stump.
30
31	!!The comic book:
32	* Peter's mother is UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper's first victim. Either Peter witnessed it or killed her himself, inspiring the killer.
33	* Tinkerbell deliberately murders Rose, not only knowing everyone else in Neverland will forget Rose ever existed, the other inhabitants are perfectly aware that they'll forget Rose.

Context NightmareFuel / PeterPan