Rent Come Away (2020)

Come Away review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Peter from Peter Pan are given a revisionist origin story that nobody really asked for. It’s not that it couldn’t work and even the casting is rather strong with a handful of notable names. The issue isn’t even over the swapping of the race though I’m sure it will rile up some folks who get all hot and bothered who have to constantly state they’re not racist but they just don’t like wokeness in their media as though that word means anything anymore. The real issue with Come Away is that it becomes far too lost in its own whimsy to be the least emotionally coherent or thematically strong.

The film finds Alice and Pan as brothers who have been whisked away to magical lands and enticed into adventures. Most of that magic, however, relies on the characters being less interactive with their world. They feel less like the heroes of their own stories and more like passengers on a fantastic journey where they need to keep their hands in the car at all times. The presence of Angelina Jolie as Rose and David Oyelowo as Jack offer little for their roles as the instigating adults who will lead our young heroes down paths to Wonderland and Neverland.

As if to seem more true to the darker nature of classic tales, the film tries to bring bitterness to its wonder. The worlds of fantasy creatures and pilots are portrayed in such a dour tone that makes such a film fit neatly into the camps of somber fairytale retreads akin to the recent picture Wendy. But aside from such a jarring atmosphere, the film is just genuinely dull. And how can you do that? A film with mad hatters, evil queens, vengeful pirates, and swashbuckling boys is a slog? Something is rotten in the state of fairytales.

So much of this film just feels as though it were Terry Gilliam where the director was kicked off mid-way through and somebody had to replicate is messy style. The kids seem almost entirely lost in a film that can’t quite decide what it’s trying to be. A coming of age tale? An adventure picture into new realms? A dream-like contemplation on adolescence vs adulthood? It’s hard to say when the film wastes so much time stumbling around its whimsical filler to find any meaningful thing to say other than just presenting yet another iteration of Alice and Peter Pan. Even the visual effects offer little splendor.

It’s not that Come Play couldn’t work as fairytale revisionism; it’s just that it’s an aimless experiment. It presents an interesting idea of trying crossover stories but then finds little besides set pieces to stage around it. Sure, parts are cute and some sets and costumes look great, but that’s really all that can be said of such a misfiring adventure picture that never delivers on much of anything.