Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is a high flying Corporate Executive who is struggling to keep up with his family and his work.

Finally after ten years he takes his family back home to Granny Wendy’s to open a new orphanage in her honour and to visit for a few days. His holiday turns sour though, when none other than Captain Hook kidnaps his 2 children.

He refuses to admit that this could be possible until he gets a rude awakening from the delightful yet somewhat forceful little fairy Tinkerbell (Julia Roberts). Tinkerbell manages to cart him back to Neverland to save his children. Here he is faced with the wretched Captain Hook and his gang of Pirates who at first don’t believe that this grown up man could possibly be Peter Pan. Peter originally fails to save his children since he can’t remember how to fly. Tinkerbell steps in and offers to train him up and prepare him for the challenge in a few days.

From here the story cavorts into his training exercises, the children and scenery of Neverland and the ensuing battle with Captain hook.

So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?

VIDEO
The 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer is particularly beautiful. There is so much colour and detail to the film you can get lost in the scenery and forget the actual story.

There were no MPEG artefacts, and very little edge enhancement and aliasing.

Shadow detail was fantastic and the deepest blacks still did not lose any detail.

The greatest attribute to the transfer is the colour palette. There are so many rich and beautiful colourings, that one would expect a level of over saturation or colour bleeding but at no time were there any problems with these brilliant colours. One could expect nothing less from Spielberg.

The general feel of the film is a little soft but I feel this is intentional and a really sharp image would lose the fantasy feeling of the film.

AUDIO
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is a little less impressive. While there seemed to be a constant use of surrounds they still came across as a touch on the flat side. There is great potential in this film to really get you in the movie with the audio.

Dialogue was mostly clear but at times needed a little volume lifting. This could be me though getting as little on the deaf side.

The musical Score from John Williams is the most positive side of the audio transfer. His musical interpretations and effects really do make the movie.

EXTRAS
Nice collection of extras to boot a collectors edition. No audio commentary though. (Gee how sad, not my favourite feature anyway)

4 Theatrical Trailers: Hook, Muppets from Space, Bicentennial Man and Stuart Little.

Cast and Crew Bio’s

DVD Interactive Game: What a great idea! This is a very cute little animated game in where you travel around Neverland looking for some lost treasures. Hope it’s good for the kids since it stumped me after a while. Have to say it was easy to play with my little joystick thingy on the remote, could be a little annoying on a normal remote having to push buttons and such.

Featurette, Behind the Scenes: Some behind the scenes footage and movie clips, and interviews with Spielberg and other starring cast members.

Photo gallery: nicely put together for you to watch instead of flicking through still images these have a great animated fade and accompanying audio background.

OVERALL
Well I thought this was awesome but then I’ve seen it so many times I would expect nothing less. Collectors and novices alike, you should all have a copy of this in your DVD player.