Name : Calvin Wilson / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Wright seems overwhelmed by the material, and he fails to make us care about any of the characters.

Name : Ignatiy Vishnevetsky / Alias : AV Club
It's hard to make the case that any of this means anything, or is even supposed to .

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
The film fulfills its limited mandate of providing fast-paced adventure and some nice eye candy without adding anything memorable to the tale of The Boy Who Can Fly.

Name : Bill Zwecker / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
This is a good film that will be enjoyed both by pre-teen children and the parents who likely will join them at the multiplexes around the country.

Name : Anthony Lane / Alias : New Yorker
The most cheering surprise of the season is "Pan."

Name : Kate Taylor / Alias : Globe and Mail
In fashioning a creation myth for Peter Pan, director Joe Wright and writer Jason Fuchs have produced such a thin story that they reduce, rather than amplify, J.M. Barrie's famous characters.

Name : Scott Tobias / Alias : NPR
Sometimes, classic stories don't benefit from re-imaginings or embellishments. Sometimes, it's not worth knowing what happened before the fun starts. Sometimes, such mysteries are best left alone.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
The actors all try hard to keep the energy up but never get convincingly in synch and, with the exception of Peter, the characters don't reasonably comport with one's pre-existing images of them.

Name : Dave Calhoun / Alias : Time Out
Wright throws a lot of ideas at Pan, and not all of them stick, but it makes for a refreshingly imaginative experience, and one not afraid of inspiring a little fear in younger audiences alongside the scattergun wonder.

Name : Britton Peele / Alias : Dallas Morning News
What it lacks in character development . Pan overcompensates for in style.

Name : Bruce Kirkland / Alias : Toronto Sun
Sometimes murky and yet often magical.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
This joyless, juiceless Pan is a theme-park ride from hell.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
It appears all involved had a grand ol' time making Pan, the latest and loopiest retelling of the story of Peter Pan. Too bad for the audience, though.

Name : Tom Russo / Alias : Boston Globe
Passable adventure that offers the occasional flash of real cleverness.

Name : Tony Hicks / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
The end suggests there are plans for more chapters to the story. If so, someone needs to reassess the formula. This wasn't a movie that needed making.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
For all the eye-popping effects and hyperkinetic action, there's no joyful innocence here. There's no sense of childlike wonder. Just a lifeless machine, dully ticking away like a clock in a crocodile's belly.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
Was anyone clamoring for the story of how Hook and Peter came to be? Maybe, but they won't find it in "Pan," not really.

Name : Ben Sachs / Alias : Chicago Reader
Loud, chaotic action dominates this unnecessary prequel to Peter Pan.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
Ugly to look at, shrill to listen to, and performed by actors who have been encouraged to camp it up madly in the style usually favored by aging British sitcom stars playing storybook characters in Christmas panto productions.

Name : Joe McGovern / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
Who in the world was crying out for a prequel to Peter Pan? And especially in this lumpy, vanilla form .

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
There's a formula here to be studied for future movies. Just take whatever they did in "Pan" and do something else.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
The noise you hear is J. M. Barrie turning over in his grave.

Name : Andrew Barker / Alias : Variety
Stripping all whimsy and wonder from the Peter Pan story, Joe Wright's prequel is a busy, bungled bust.

Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
This joyless, 10-megaton bomb fails in just about every imaginable way, as well as some you couldn't possibly imagine.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
What was Wright aiming for here? No idea.

Name : A.O. Scott / Alias : New York Times
A hectic and labored attempt to supply the boy who never grew up with an origin story.

Name : David Sims / Alias : The Atlantic
If Pan's screenplay is a lesson in anything, it's that most beloved stories don't require a whole cinematic universe to go along with them.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
The official worst-ever Peter Pan film adaptation of any sort. And that includes "Hook."

Name : Bilge Ebiri / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
The very idea behind Pan is ill-conceived. Who wants a prequel to Peter Pan?

Name : John Anderson / Alias : TIME Magazine
There's no denying that Pan is one ambitious fairy tale. But what's being labeled a "wholly original adventure" feels far from new, never mind necessary.

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
The movie doesn't so much enhance our understanding of the flying boy as it demonstrates how little thought went into crafting his back story.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
A botched interpretation of the classic story that trades spectacle for coherence.

Name : Dave Kehr / Alias : Chicago Reader
There are laughs, but the prevalent tone is one of discreet compassion, without condescension or sanctimony.

Name : Trevor Johnston / Alias : Time Out
A trio of contrasting personalities, the veterans bring both a mischievous wit and a sense of subdued anger to a familiar comic plotline, and the film achieves a rare balance of laughter and compassion.

Name : Vincent Canby / Alias : New York Times
Though the cast is headed by three fine actors, two of whom, Mr. Burns and Mr. Carney, are also extremely funny men, it never elicits any emotional response more profound than curiosity.