Sometimes a good idea doesn't work because of the execution.
Brenda Chapman, the Oscar-winning co-director of "Brave," makes her live action debut with "Come Away." It's a film based on a great premise: What if Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" and Peter Pan were brother and sister?
It boasts an impressive cast with David Oyelowo, Clarke Peters, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Caine, Derek Jacobi, and Angelina Jolie.
But all of the magic of Wonderland and Neverland is gone missing in this dreary, overly serious adaptation.
Chapman takes the fantastical stories of magic and grounds them in reality in a story where the fairy tales are more imaginary than actual. And that could have worked but even when we see children briefly escape into their whimsical worlds, it's still drab, colorless and -- to be blunt -- boring.
What we end up with is a film that's too serious for children but lacking enough substance for adults.
You end up wondering what audiences would love this film.
The story takes place in the English countryside some time ago and Oyelowo and Jolie play the parents of three young children: Peter, Alice and David. Oyelowo is from a different class and is judged by Jolie's sister, played by Anna Chancellor, who comes to visit the family. An unexpected tragedy hits the family and nobody knows how to cope. Oyelowo resumes his gambling habit and Jolie begins drinking. Alice and Peter retreat into their fantasy worlds as a way to "never grow up."
There are some deep themes about living up to your parents' expectation and never losing that childlike sense of wonder, but it's all surrounded by such melancholy.
Chapman's film has been the target of "review bombs," which is when a bunch of online users flood a movie with negative reviews before having seen the film. This is likely due to the interracial marriage in the film and the biracial children, similar to online trolls trashing "A Wrinkle in Time" before it was even screened. This is very sad, but that doesn't mean all of the negative reviews are false or racially motivated. Many left-leaning newspapers are giving a "meh" response to this film.
"Come Away" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at the same time as "Wendy," another realistic take on Peter Pan. The latter, helmed by Benh Zeitlin, who scored an Oscar nomination for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," is a superior film with amazing visuals and strong child actors. But neither film lives up to their potential, but "Wendy" clearly overshadowed "Come Away."
Yes, it's another example of two similar films coming out at the same time. Think "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact," "Antz" and "A Bug's Life," "Capote" and "Tru," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Observe and Report" or -- more recently -- "The Current War" and "Tesla."
But if it was only one other similar movie, that would be ok. But the story of Peter Pan and Alice have been done so many times recently, from 2003's "Peter Pan," and 2015's "Pan," to the Tim Burton's box office smash "Alice in Wonderland." That's not even including versions made decades prior like "Hook" and both Disney animated classic featuring Neverland and Wonderland.
Newer versions should have something different to say and I understand the "realistic approach" is an attempt at that.
But what we're left with is so gloomy and dull that the audiences themselves wish there was a fantasy world they could escape to.
"Come Away" is available in some Indianapolis area movie theaters and can be rented on demand.
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