Review: Joe Wright's 'Pan' Starring Hugh Jackman And Rooney Mara

Following in the ignominious footsteps of "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace," "Prometheus," and similar ill-conceived prequels, "Pan" explains that which needed no explanation – and does so in a manner that drains every last ounce of magic from its predecessor. In concocting an origin story for Peter Pan, the Neverland boy who never grows up, director Joe Wright proceeds from the fundamentally flawed premise that Peter is a figure of such tantalizing mystery that the means by which he became the leader of the Lost Boys is a tale worth inventing. However, unlike Darth Vader, a cloaked and hooded icon whose true nature was shrouded in secrecy, Pan’s heroism – and dedication to protecting fellow orphans in search of a home – has never demanded any elaboration. And it certainly has never required the sort of half-baked, derivative gobbledygook offered up by this sloppy first installment in a planned trilogy.

To recount the film's myriad twists...