While the story of Peter Pan is one that is beloved by generations of people, has there actually been a film that’s done it justice on the big screen?

Arguably, yes. Perhaps the most celebrated entry remains the 1953 animated film from Walt Disney (a formative movie for this reviewer). And who could forget Steven Spielberg’s 1991 take in which Robin Williams starred as a grown-up Peter who had lost his identity? But beyond those films, a scattering of poorly received made-for-TV-movies, as well as ill-fated studio blockbusters, have unsuccessfully tried to bring the story of Pan to the big screen, to an unreceptive response. So why don’t the majority of these movies do service to the story of Peter?

As I found while watching Wendy at its Sundance World Premiere, the answer appears to lie beneath what most films celebrate: swash-buckling with pirates, cartoonish Neverland, fairies, and more. At its heart, what most movies miss are the key fundamental human challenges: that of never growing up and the death we accept when we grow hardened, therefore losing the ability to see the world of openness and possibility.

And that idea is precisely what director Benh Zeitlin centers his reimagining around, and what makes Wendy of the most welcomed entries into the Peter Pan filmography.

So what makes Benh Zeitlin’s reimagining of Peter Pan so great? Well, let’s start by talking about its director, Benh Zeitlin.

As you may or may not know, in 2012, Benh (pronounced Ben) made his feature film debut with a little movie called Beasts of the Southern Wild. The film tells the story of a young girl living in an impoverished yet spirited New Orleans community who escapes her circumstances as well as an impending catastrophic storm by imagining fantastical worlds. It was a breakout hit, nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (at nine-years-old, Quvenzhané Wallis is the youngest ever nominee for the Academy Award).

Since then, audiences have eagerly awaited Benh’s return to the big screen. Well, eight not-so-short-years later, it’s finally here, with Benh returning to adapt the beloved story of Peter and make it his own, setting the film in a place of real-world fantasy akin to Beasts. In his version, spirited, untamable children who yearn for adventure are brought down by lifeless, joyless grown-ups, existing in body but far gone from their childhood selves.

It’s with this spirit that Zeitlin centers the story of Peter Pan around his main character, Wendy (Devin France). Wendy and her two brothers Douglas and James (Gage and Gavin Naquin) become lured by a curious, boyish figure outside their bedroom window atop a bustling freight train. As impulse leads Wendy and her brothers to follow the mysterious boy, they find themselves a world away, on an island of magnificent wonder where they’re free from their previous life’s confinements. Finding similarly stowed away kids, these “lost boys” are unbound in daily adventure. Wendy and her brothers remain transfixed by the one who led them out the window, the wise-as-he-is-playful character, Peter (Yashua Mack), whose orders to “never grow up” come more like a dire warning should they do.

It’s here, in these moments of shared play, that the film is at it’s most powerful and touching. Gorgeously crafted sequences of kids running and playing are beautifully lensed and set to sweeping, heightened symphonies that, for those few minutes, truly do bring a tear to one’s eye as bottled moments of the spirit of life.

What makes Wendy so rich is that it unpacks the rest of the mythology of Peter Pan, giving unexpected and insightful reason behind the known elements that make up the rest of the story: Those who have grown old and desperate on the island who threaten the lost boys, a pirate ship in the form of a large fishing boat, and yes – the rise of Peter’s infamous foe, Captain Hook. Ironically, I find that it is these elements that, at times, holds the film back, as its dutiful ties to its source material make it somewhat predictable to see where the narrative goes. I say “predictable” quite loosely, though, as it’s such joy to see how Benh and co-screenwriter and sister Eliza Zeitlin explain each of these storybook elements so organically and how they fit within the story of real-world interpretation.

And of course, magical realism does abound in the film. Fantastical elements dance with reality, where playfully eruptive volcanoes and the island’s protecting oceanic-dweller, “Mother,” expand the world even more. It’s in these moments where audiences will ask themselves, “Is this all real?” And that question is answered by, if you choose to see life through the eyes of a child, it is.

It’s for these reasons combined that Wendy is not only one of the most welcomed entries into the Peter Pan filmography, but one of the most accomplished films about childhood in recent times. Benh Zeitlin is an artist who, with his singular immaculate vision, celebrates the world of seeing life with wonder, awe, fearlessness, curiosity, zest, and untamed spirit. And that’s what I found most movies about Peter Pan miss, and makes the classic story what it is: a story of embracing life that will never age, as long as its readers and audiences never do either.

WENDY (2020)

Starring Yashua Mack, Devin France, Gage Naquin, Gavin Naquin

Directed by Benh Zeitlin

Written by Benh Zeitlin, Eliza Zeitlin

Distributed by Searchlight Pictures. 112 minutes. Opening this Friday at ArcLight Hollywood and The Landmark.