A modern reimagining of the Peter Pan story that's focused on the title character. Per this version, Wendy is a girl in the American South from a poor family, living there with her mother and brothers. One of their friends, Thomas, rebels when jokingly told he'll grow up to work there at the diner Wendy's mother owns.
Wendy later sees a small figure entice him up onto a passing train, and he disappears. Years pass, and Wendy is nine, having developed a thirst for adventure. When her mother Angela tells her of an adventurous past she gave up for her children, Wendy is disheartened by the idea she'll do the same.
She later attempts to jump on the train herself, but fails. Later that night, a boy appears at her window and calls on her to follow him. Wendy does so along with her brothers, twins James and Douglas. They travel on the train long into the night before being pushed off into a river by the boy, Peter.
After they get picked up while in the water by a girl named Cudjoe Head, they're taken to a volcanic island. On arrival, they find other children there and have the promise of never growing up. However, everything is not wholly idyllic there...
Tropes:
- Action Girl: Wendy is a young tomboy who gets into all kinds of action running, diving and escaping along with the boys. The same goes for Cudjoe Head, as the only other girl there.
- Adaptational Diversity: In this version, Peter plus a number of the Lost Boys are Black. More female characters are added too, Black and White both, to round things out (so it's less "Lost Boys" than "Lost Children").
- The Ageless: Children living on the island can stay young forever if they believe in the Mother, a kind of guardian spirit. However, they're still capable of being injured or killed. The above causes some to lose faith, which ages them.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: There's no clear sign of the Darling kids' dad. Later, this also goes for grown-up Wendy with her own daughter.
- And the Adventure Continues: At the end, Wendy's own daughter goes off with Peter to visit the island herself.
- An Arm and a Leg: When James sees his hand is aging, he gets it cut off with a machete, to Wendy's horror. It doesn't help though, and he keeps aging.
- Canon Character All Along: James turns into Captain Hook at the end, losing a hand and fashioning a hook for himself in its place. In a more lighthearted take, he embraces taking the role of Peter's "enemy" as a form of play-acting for their mutual amusement.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: A version of this happens at the end, when after Mother is killed, at Wendy's urging both the children and Olds sing, inspiring them. This makes the volcano erupt, signaling she is revived.
- Darker and Edgier: In comparison with previous Peter Pan stories, there is a lot more grim and unsettling stuff. Some of the children die, go missing, or lose a limb. Those who lose faith in Mother, who keeps them young, will lose their youth, becoming unhappy old people.
- Deconstruction: The film can be seen as this toward part of the Peter Pan story. Just because they don't age doesn't mean there are no issues for the kids on the island-danger still exists, even to the point of its being lethal. Wendy also grows increasingly unhappy and guilty about her mother, who she realizes has to be distraught over losing her children.
- Girliness Upgrade: When grown up, Wendy is shown wearing more conventionally feminine attire and no longer acting so much like a tomboy.
- Here We Go Again!: Peter runs away with Wendy's daughter just as she did beside him years before.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Wendy has striking pale blue eyes here which accentuate her innocence and youth.
- Nature Spirit: Mother, the island spirit who appears in the form of a fish but also seems to be connected with the volcano.
- Nice Girl: Wendy is consistently kind to people around her. She always tries to help make things right for everyone.
- One of the Boys: Wendy always runs around with her brothers and other boys in the film, acting very much like them as a tomboy. The same goes for Cudjoe Head, as the only other girl there.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The only other girl on the island is called "Cudjoe Head", which you have to presume isn't her real name.
- Outdoorsy Gal: Even before she's on the island, Wendy is seen happily running around outside with her brothers and other boys. The same goes for her on the island, along with the one girl there already.
- Race Lift: Peter and some of the Lost Boys are Black here, though in the case of Peter this is zigzagged as J. M. Barrie never described Peter's appearance in detail, leaving it to the imagination of the reader and the interpretation of whoever is adapting him.
- Rapid Aging: When a Lost Boy (or Girl) loses faith in the Mother, their youth is lost, causing them to age very quickly into old people.
- Time-Shifted Actor: For all the characters that appear as both kids and adults, most prominently James and Wendy at the end of the movie.
- Two Girls to a Team: Among the Lost Boys there's Cudjoe Head and Wendy.
- Unexplained Recovery: Douglas dives underwater and cuts his head, disappearing. Wendy and James believe he died. Later though he reappears none the worse, with no indication of how he got out or why he'd been apart from them instead of coming back.
- Xenafication: Here unlike in most portrayals Wendy's a tomboy Action Girl who's feisty as all of the Lost Boys, Peter included, since she's One of the Boys and an outdoorsy gal.
- You Can't Go Home Again: While Wendy and Douglas eventually return home, James is unable to since he has aged into an old man, a process that cannot be reversed.
