Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Soundtrack

Walt Disney Records, 1998

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 03/14/1999

One of the best things about being a parent is that I now have alegitimate reason to start watching all these old Disney movies.It's easier walking up to the counter at Blockbuster with a copy of"Lady And The Tramp" with a toddler in hand than if I were to go upalone. ("Uh, I'm babysitting...")

Although my daughter and I are slowly plowing through the Disneycatalog (we keep getting stuck on "Winnie-The-Pooh" and "Mulan" -"Watch it again, Daddy!"), we haven't gotten to all the movies justyet. One of those on the short list to watch is today's soundtrackreview, Peter Pan.

I've said this in many reviews of Disney soundtracks, and I'llsay it again: You don't really need to have seen the movie in orderto understand how the plot is going thanks to the way the music isstructured. I can almost see Tinkerbell and Peter Pan peeking intothe nursery to watch Wendy; I can see them all flying through theair, singing, "You Can Fly! You Can Fly! You Can Fly!". And, daringto be politically incorrect, I can see the "war dance" going onduring tracks like "What Made The Red Man Red" and "Big ChiefFlying Eagle". (Save the flames; I didn't write the friggin'tracks.)

After multiple times listening to Peter Pan, I still don't understand why the song "NeverSmile At A Crocodile" didn't make it into the film. It's a bitquirky, especially with the rambling conversation that closes thetrack, but it's still a fun song to listen to. Likewise, "TheBoatswain's Song" - complete with an "error" that the producerschose to leave in for historical purposes - is a fun number, andone that could have easily found a home in this film.