Bloated, revisionist Pan story loses the plot

JUST like old soldiers, Peter Pan never dies. And he doesn't fade away either - not with a steady procession of Hollywood movies to keep him going. The never-ending story indeed. Despite a clutch of films about JM Barrie's most famous creation (the first was made into a silent movie, released in 1924; the last big-screen incarnation took place in 2003), there always seems to be room for just one more. Enter Pan, a prequel with a revisionist take on the classic tale of a boy who never grows up.

Pan remains a young boy's awfully big adventure at heart but this extravagant, big-budget, effects-bloated fantasy directed by Joe Wright and written by Jason Fuchs, is also a bold - and not always successful - departure from the norm. Its inspiration comes from conventional sources, plus one or two less obvious choice…