I took my nine-year old daughter, Lauren, to see the new Peter Pan today. A really enjoyable film, I must say.

I am referring to the latest version of Peter Pan, from Universal Studios. The movie stars Jeremy Sumpter, Jason Isaacs, Lynn Redgrave, Ludivine Sagnier and Olivia Williams. Except of course for Lynn Redgrave, I was not familiar with any of the cast members. But the quality of the acting was quite good and, in the context of this being a children's fantasy film, they created believable characters. For the first time in a treatment of this story, I understood why Wendy loved Peter and why Peter loved Wendy.

This movie makes the fourth version of the Peter Pan story that I have seen. Mary Martin's film of her stage treatment, Disney's cartoon version, Robin William's Hook all were impressive in their own ways. So the question is how does this version compare? As stated the acting was good, the special effects more than adequate and the interpretation was entrancing. I will say that there is some violence in this (some of the fight scenes with Hook are violent and the crocodile may scare little kids) but the movie is suitable for all but the youngest. And I would certainly recommend the movie for children my daughter's age.

I would give it 3 and 1/2 stars.