Benh Zeitlin triumphed seven years ago at Sundance with “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” It went on to get nominated for Best Picture and set Zeitlin up as a possible heir to Terrence Malick’s brand of naturalist cinema. Zeitlin’s much-anticipated follow-up is “Wendy,” a very loose adaptation of “Peter Pan,” but infused with the same magical-surrealism as ‘Beasts.’ Suffice to say, much like Pan, Zeitlin hasn’t really grown up since the last time we saw him. I’m not about to complain that a much-heralded “auteur” is making a movie that looks and feels too similar to his last one — if that were the case, then Wes Anderson would be guilty as charged on all accounts. No, my beef with “Wendy” has more to do with the story that Zeitlin chose to tell in this sophomore effort. The idea of making an arthouse “Peter Pan” feels misguided at best. If the story of Wendy and her twin brothers (Gavin and Gage Naquin) being lured by a train to a land where every day is playtime and nobody grows old excites the inner kid in you then, by all means, go right ahead and — board this ride. I felt suffocated by the endless whimsy purported on my eyeballs. [D]
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