Do yourself a favor and take in ‘The Walk,’ ‘Pan’ pans

The Walk ****

After listening to an interview last week with the now 66-year-old high-wire artist, Philippe Petit, speaking about his amazing and illegal feat of walking between the two towers of the World Trade center in 1974, I realized the challenge director Robert Zemeckis faced in making his new movie, “The Walk”… we already know how it ends. Would the suspense be there? Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the then 24-year-old Frenchman, Petit, narrates the movie perched atop the Statue of Liberty with the gleaming Twin Towers and the New York City skyline in the backdrop. We first go back to Petit’s native France to learn how the young boy becomes a street performer and how he grows up into young-adulthood and longs for this one opportunity to make a splash, something spectacular. His is a fascinating, true tale of courage, cunning, tenacity, and showmanship - he just doesn’t give up. It’s also a tale of NYC in the mid-1970s, and of the Towers themselves, both gone forever. Despite the fact that you know Petit is successful (and that’s only a spoiler if you’ve been living under a rock) Zemeckis manages to keep you on the edge of your seat, and forces you to wrestle with that pit in your stomach as the 3D takes you to the top of the world and safely down again.

PAN**1/2

The star power and proven acting chops of Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, and the fresh face of 13-year-old newcomer Levi Miller as Peter Pan, along with outstanding 3D CGI couldn’t save this yawner-of-a-big-budget-flick, though it does have a few redeeming moments. The idea of an origins story for the beloved Victorian Age novel was well-reasoned, but the film suffered from an amateurish screenplay, stale dialog, and a stolen character (Hook) who was far too close to Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Indiana Jones. The performance from the handsome, rakish 30-year-old Garrett Hedlund as the sarcastic James Hook felt forced, and stock, but he’s only partly to blame. The script suffered from unimaginative dialog, and rehashed themes, especially as related to Hook. But there was little warmth as the London orphan, Peter, discovers his true identity and destiny as leader of the Lost Boys while they do battle with the fairy-dust miner, Blackbeard. See this film for Jackman, who never fails to deliver, the precocious Levi Miller, and Rooney Mara as Tiger Lilly. Lovers of fantasy and 3D effects may eventually embrace this film even if the mass audience does not. As of our publishing deadline PAN has only recouped $40 mil of its $150 mil budget, and that’s something producers may need a heavy dose of fairy dust to correct.

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Do yourself a favor and take in ‘The Walk,’ ‘Pan’ pans."