Come Away Spoiler-Free Movie Review
Not what I expected, but in a good way.
We all know the tales of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan…or do we? Who really is the little girl who journey’s down the rabbit hole to the fanciful world of Wonderland or the boy who never grows up? Come Away is a movie re-imagining these usually animated classic stories and bringing them into real-life. It is not what I expected. It is a darker version, but it is an excellent movie. Come Away releases on digital and in select movie theaters on November 13, 2020. Below is my spoiler-free movie review.
My Review
When did I grow up? When did I stop imagining the world as an amazing and magical place? These were the two questions running through my head as I watched Come Away. I will also be honest with you and tell you I cried for the majority of the movie, but not in a bad way. Come Away is a sad and dark movie, but so too are many of the original fairy tales and classics. (I mean Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to try and fit into the glass slipper for goodness sakes.) If you are a parent it hits you in all the feels within the first 30 minutes, and it doesn’t let you go. But I am not surprised.
While I am not sure of the exact year Come Away is supposed to take place I can make an educated guess and tell you growing up and being a parent at that time in history was not easy. Death, illness, and tragedy were everyday occurrences, and the fact that the movie mixes in this tragedy with the magical is spectacular. How do young kids play? They use their imagination. What do most kids do when life is hard. They escape into their imagination, and so mixing the stories of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan with a family who is experiencing hardship makes perfect sense. We get to see the expectations placed on them and how/why Alice and Peter make the decision to grow up, or not.
Bringing the characters to life
What makes Come Away even more phenomenal though are the actors and imagery. Keira Chansa as Alice and Jordan A. Nash as Peter steal the show. They do such a great job that you feel their character’s pain, and you feel their joy when they are inside their imaginations. Combine that with a little bit of animation and the imagery that is used to bring their imagination to life is beautiful. Come Away is fantastic and I really hope Brenda Chapman, and all the producers come back to re-imagine more classics.
My Rating
Even though I cried through most of the movie I still give Come Away an A+. Come Away is a beautiful re-telling, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Ok for kids?
I actually do not agree with the rating given to Come Away. They rated it PG, but truly I feel it should have been rated PG-13. I do not suggest younger kids see it. For one it may not hold their attention, and two it does contain death, use of alcohol, violence, and peril.
