Except for the underlying theme- that parents should be more understanding of their children as they were once children themselves. This movie may have worked well into society back when it was first released in 1953- where gender role views were clearly defined and boys were one way and girls were another. However this movie- even with being regarded as a Disney Classic- cannot be considered, now, something that the whole family can enjoy without some controversial questions and raised eye-brows. Before I go into the racism and sexism of the movie, let's first take a look at how Mr. Darling treats his daughter Wendy's sense of creativity. He calls them "idiotic ideas"- now any child self aware enough may internalize this and may whether consciously or subconciously bring it out in conversation with a parent making for quite an interesting and uncomfortable talk. Now speaking of uncomfortable- there is the subject of the the Indians in the movie. They are described as "quite savage", "cunning but not intelligent" and "Red" men. Not only that but the lost boys actually go to HUNT them. If that is not blatant racism then I'm not sure what is. Now as far as the sexism goes, other than the one line 'girls talk too much' the sexism is not necessarily spoken in the movie but rather spread out throughout the movie in how they treat Wendy and the other females of the movie. First- Wendy is given the role of mother and care taker- a role "traditionally" given only to females where we now know that is not all women can do and something that men can partake in as well- while the lost boys and Wendy's two brothers go off to hunt (the indians). Now- in the movie it seems that girls can only be of two things- one as already mentioned caretakers and swooning over Peter and the other is vindictive and jealous. The mermaids for one actually try and drown Wendy (they admit to it too) and Captain Hook uses TinkerBell's jealousy over Wendy and Peter to his advantage. If that is not enough then the violence should concern all parents. Peter Pan ( a boy) cuts off captain Hook's hand and feeds it to a croc. There are sword fights. Children being violent toward adults and vice versa- especially that above all. There is violence- not just peter against captain hook but violence toward other people, the indians. There is "domestic" violence per say; Tinkerbell against Wendy. Overall this movie is outdated and as my suggestion and opinion should only be shown to our children if one plans to explain why it's ok to name call people of others ethnicities, why it's ok to be violent toward adults and vice versa, and why it's ok to be sexist.

My 3 year old was turned off pretty quickly. My five year old boy was interested but getting a little vibe he didn't like (like moving trees and more he couldn't verbalize) to the point that he didn't care to watch it much more than 15 minutes and was eager to try a different show.

Yes, there's "What Makes the Red Man Red" which is totally uncomfortable. However, our 4 year old boy loves this film and there is much to love in it, including using imagination to fly, and the challenges of growing older and being responsible. Plus there's escapism when kids can outsmart their adult counterparts. What little boy wouldn't want to be a Lost Boy for a day? But it's still grounded when they long for their mothers at home. Couple notes: There's Tick-Tock the crocodile that might be a bit scary, but ultimately is used for laughs. Also, Captain Hook/Mr. Darling are voiced by the same actor and share many characteristics. For a more mature viewer, there's definitely some deconstructing to be done on that point. At least the film doesn't draw on the potential death of Tinkerbell which is a major factor of the original stage production, which was broadcast for TV back in the day. I was prepping myself for the "Clap if you believe in fairies" part, which could've caused some concerns in our youngster, and it never occurs. Woo-hoo!

Far too sexual. The female characters, with the exception of Wendy, are terrible role models for girls. They are mean, spiteful, rude, angry, jealous and sexual. The mermaids fawn over Peter Pan like he were Huge Hefner. There is also a scene that shows Peter Pan and Micheal taking part in smoking from a pipe with the "Engines". Its very racists towards native Americans. All in all, its too violent and sexual for an animated child's film.

We have a four year old whose grandparents' take great pride in purchasing Disney movies for. Our son was so excited to get Peter Pan, but as usual, we told him we would need to screen the film prior to him watching it. We watched the first 1/2 hour, and decided that it's definitely too old for a young child. There's a part where the Dad just blows up at the children-- which isn't really all that offensive, but we were sure our four year old wouldn't understand. The clencher was the part where one of the pirates pulls a gun and puts it up to another's face, threatens to slit his throat, etc. That's just not something I want my kid emulating at this age!

I think its a good movie. I think families should explain to their children that the Lost Boys aren't orphans because they don't remember their mothers, but because of the time period, they would have been left with Nannies (much like the Darlings' dog Nanna) expect with Human ones. (Think of Mary Poppins how many times in that movie did Jane&Michael see their parents?) now add to that fact. The Lost Boys dropped from their prams? And also explain to them that Peter himself ran away from home. In a way Never land is both real and not real. Since in a way its the mind of children (and not all children are alike) here's a line from the book: " don't know whether you have ever seen a map of a person's mind. Doctors sometimes draw maps of other parts of you, and your own map can become intensely interesting, but catch them trying to draw a map of a child's mind, which is not only confused, but keeps going round all the time. There are zigzag lines on it, just like your temperature on a card, and these are probably roads in the island, for the Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and there, and coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and a hut fast going to decay, and one very small old lady with a hooked nose. It would be an easy map if that were all, but there is also first day at school, religion, fathers, the round pond, needle-work, murders, hangings, verbs that take the dative, chocolate pudding day, getting into braces, say ninety-nine, three-pence for pulling out your tooth yourself, and so on, and either these are part of the island or they are another map showing through, and it is all rather confusing, especially as nothing will stand still. Of course the Neverlands vary a good deal. John's, for instance, had a lagoon with flamingoes flying over it at which John was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands, Michael in a wigwam, Wendy in a house of leaves deftly sewn together. John had no friends, Michael had friends at night, Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken by its parents, but on the whole the Neverlands have a family resemblance, and if they stood still in a row you could say of them that they have each other's nose, and so forth. On these magic shores children at play are for ever beaching their coracles [simple boat]. We too have been there; we can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land no more." now about those Natives? Well kids of the 50s would have been expecting steroypes like that since that what would probably have been on Sat morning cartoons. I'm guessing that would probably be the same in Edwardian London where I assume the movie takes place.