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Disney Animated Canon entry #14, and the last one to be distributed by RKO Pictures. It is based on the 1904 stage play (and, by proxy, its 1911 book adaptation) by James Barrie, and is also the last film that all of Disney's Nine Old Men worked on together as prominent animators. It is likewise the final film to feature animation contributed by notable early Disney animators Norm Ferguson - who developed a method of overlapping poses to accentuate movement in 1930, radically reinventing animated timing - and Fred Moore, notable for pioneering the squash-and-stretch technique instrumental to modern western animation. Ferguson contributed to Nana prior to his departure from the studio (owing to declining health from diabetes), while Moore completed several shots of Mr. Smee and the eponymous inhabitants of Mermaid Lagoon before dying from injuries sustained in a vehicle collision in 1952.

The well-remembered 1953 Disney animated movie presents a cozier version of Peter Pan, keeping most of the incidents, but virtually none of the original dialogue. Furthermore, it is one of the earliest examples of when the play's usual casting tradition was waived and a male actor was cast for the title role, in this case the then-popular child actor Bobby Driscoll.

During their Direct-to-Video sequel period, Disney made Return to Never Land, in 2002, one of the decade's few animated sequels to get a theatrical release (but still not part of the Disney Animated Canon itself). Their publishing arm has released a series of prequel novels written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Finally, their take on Tinker Bell has long been something of a mascot character for the company, and, in the new millennium, the Spin-Off Disney Fairies line of books, merchandise, and a made-for-DVD film was launched focusing on her and other (original) pixies (similar in concept to the Disney Princess line). And, for the boys (though it features a token girl) is a pirate-adventure flavored take on the Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go! formula called Jake and the Never Land Pirates, where a group of kid pirates match wits with Captain Hook and Smee.

A live-action remake, Peter Pan & Wendy, was released on Disney+ on April 28, 2023.

Peter Pan provides examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: At the beginning of the movie, when Wendy and her father argue about the Peter Pan stories she's been telling.
  Mr. Darling: Wendy, haven't I warned you? Stuffing the boys' heads with a lot of silly stories!
  Wendy: Oh, but they're not.
  Mr. Darling: I say they are! Captain Crook, Peter Pirate...
  Wendy: Peter Pan, father.
  Mr. Darling: Pan, Pirate... Poppycock!!
• Accordion to Most Sailors: A pirate is sitting in the rigging, playing a concertina and singing. Captain Hook shoots him in the middle of his cadenza.
• Actor Allusion:
  • Kathryn Beaumont once again voices a young girl with Innocent Blue Eyes who speaks with an English accent, wears a blue dress with short, puffed sleeves, and travels to a Magical Land. And her dress even briefly turns into parachute at one point!
  • Wendy describes a mother as "the angel voice who bids you goodnight." Her mother Mrs. Darling is voiced by actress Heather Angel.
• Adaptation Species Change: Or rather, breed change. In the original Peter Pan, Nana is a Newfoundland, but here, she is a Saint Bernard.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: Unlike the novel and musical, the Lost Boys don’t go back to London with Wendy, John and Michael, Captain Hook survives, and there is no Time Skip at the end, with Jane not appearing until the 2002 sequel Return to Never Land.
• Adaptational Timespan Change: In the original book the children stay in Neverland for several months, long enough that Michael forgets about living in London and doesn't recognise the nursery when they return. In the film, the whole adventure happens over the course of a single night.
• Adaptational Wimp: Captain Hook. As Internet reviewer Unshaved Mouse notes:
  Even his own men don't seem to fear him and he's murdering them on a regular basis! [The book] mentions that Hook is feared by "the Sea-Cook". As in, Long John freakin' Silver was afraid of this guy. The Disney version wouldn't scare Captain Crunch.
• All Just a Dream: The ending of the movie implies this rather strongly when Mr. and Mrs. Darling find the kids still asleep in the nursery after returning home from the dinner party — although Wendy points out a distinctly pirate ship-based cloud outside the window and Mr. Darling claims to remember having seen it once when he was a child... This version of the ending contrasts the original play and book where the adventure was unambiguously real.
• And Another Thing...: Peter, speaking in the voice of Captain Hook, orders Mr. Smee to return Princess Tiger Lily to the Indians, to which Mr. Smee, thinking it is indeed Hook speaking, says, "Aye-aye, sir." Then Peter adds, "Oh, and one more thing: when you return to the ship, tell the whole crew to help themselves to me best rum."
• And Then What?: Wendy is fond of asking that. She expresses sorrow about being forced to grow up because it means no more bedtime stories for the boys. In Neverland, she asks the boys what they're going to do without their mother.
• And You Were There: Hans Conried voiced both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling in the movie, and their character designs are clearly deliberately similar. As a matter of fact, in theatrical and cinematic versions of Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Darling are almost always played by the same actor. This is part of the point of the story. "Never-Never Land" is a fantasy version of the real world.
• Antagonist in Mourning: Captain Hook does this when he believes the titular character died from the exploding gift he gave him.
  Hook: (Removing his hat in respect) And so passeth a Worthy Opponent.
  Smee: (Removing his own hat) Amen...
• Arboreal Abode: Peter and the Lost Boys live inside an old dead tree (called Hangman's Tree) with unusual qualities: most of it is underground and it has as much room inside as a normal house, with several furnished rooms.
• Artistic License – Ships: A galleon that's anchored in a bay wouldn't normally have its sails deployed, since that risks causing the ship to break free if a gale picks up.
• Aside Glance:
  • Captain Hook is taking Tiger Lily to be drowned. As the Crocodile follows them, he turns and looks directly at the viewers.
  • Hook gets a chance of his own aside when Pan does his echo-voice routine as the “spirit of mighty sea water”.
    Captain Hook: Stand by, Smee, while I take a look around. (addressing the ‘camera’ while plucking at his moustache with his hook) ‘Spirit of the Great Sea Water’, is it?
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The Indians play with this in the song "What Makes the Red Man Red?"
  "Hana-mana-ganda, hana-mana-ganda, we translate for you: hana means what mana means and ganda means that too!"
• As You Know: In their opening scene, Hook and Smee explain the backstory of Peter Pan cutting off Hook's hand and throwing it to the crocodile. It's done rather smoothly in the form of Hook exploding at the thought of having to show "good form."
• Aside Comment: At Skull Rock, as Hook starts to search for the "spirit of the great water", he glances toward the camera as he remarks, "Spirit of the great sea water, is it?"
• Backstab Backfire: Peter, after his climactic duel with Hook on the ship, puts Honor Before Reason, takes Hook's sword and threatens him with it, to which Hook says something to the tune of "Please, I Will Do Anything!" Peter complies, but only if Hook says that he is a codfish. Hook is only too happy to oblige and Peter decides to let him go. But when Peter crows in triumph, Hook raises his hook at Peter to backstab him with it. However, Peter, with his ability to fly, takes to the air in the nick of time, leaving Hook to lose his footing on the mainbrace where they dueled and fall right into the jaws of the waiting crocodile.
• Bait-and-Switch: In the final scene, Mr. and Mrs. Darling come home from their party and go up to the nursery. Mrs. Darling opens the door and is shocked to find Wendy's bed empty, making the viewers momentarily think the children are still in Neverland. But then it turns out that Wendy is sleeping on the windowsill, while John and Michael are both asleep in their own beds. This doubles as a Mythology Gag for the original book and play, where the Darling parents do come home to find their children gone.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: The movie does this to the Lost Boys when they reveal they tried to shoot down Wendy.
  Peter Pan: Well, I'm very proud of you... you blockheads!
• Bait-and-Switch Compassion: After Mr. Darling takes a bad fall in the nursery, he hears his family going "Awww..." and smiles warmly at their concern. It turns out they were actually worried about the dog Nana, who merely took a little slip. He, who had just been complaining about not being respected, doesn't take it well.
  All: Poor Nana...
  Mr. Darling: Poor Nana?! THAT'S THE LAST STRAW!
• Barred from the Afterlife: Captain Hook is preparing to drown the Indian Princess Tiger Lily to force her to tell him where Peter Pan's hideout is. He threatens her with this trope as he does so.
  Captain Hook: Remember, there is no path through water to the Happy Hunting Ground.
• Bears Are Bad News: Downplayed. In the "Following the Leader" segment, as the Lost Boys enter the Indians' territory, they accidentally wake up a grizzly bear who angrily snarls at them, but then gets very confused by Michael's teddy bear.
• Berserk Button:
  • Peter Pan does not like being called a coward. Captain Hook uses this to advantage in the climax so that he won't fly away "like a cowardly sparrow" when he fights him.
    Peter: Nobody calls Pan a coward and lives!
  • Captain Hook gets rather temperamental at Mr. Smee for saying shooting a man in the middle of his cadenza is bad form, since Peter Pan chopping off his hand and throwing it to the crocodile isn't exactly good form either.
    Hook: Good form, Mr. Smee? BLAST GOOD FORM! Did Pan show good form when he did this to me?!
• Beware the Skull Base: Skull Rock, which becomes the hideout for Captain Hook and his gang of pirates when they take Tiger Lily.
• Beyond the Impossible: How the hell does a dog capture an insubstantial shadow?
• Big Damn Heroes: Peter flies in last-minute to save Wendy from her fateful splash after she walks the plank.
• Big "NO!": A distraught George finds his shirt drawn on with chalk.
• Black Comedy: Hook casually kills two of his men for singing off-key and ruffling his clothes, respectively, which is Played for Laughs. Then Hook ends up on the opposite end of this during his struggle with the crocodile.
• Blade Lock: Peter locking blades with Captain Hook, his dagger against Hook's rapier. Hook seems to have the advantage, forcing Peter back step by step... but in doing so, fails to see that the both of them are headed off the edge of a cliff. Peter can fly; Hook, when he sees he's standing on thin air, realizes that he can't.
• Blade Run: Peter Pan likes to jump on Captain Hook's rapier while they are dueling, just to annoy him.
• Blowing Smoke Rings: Peter and the Indian Chief smoke a peace pipe after Peter rescues Tiger Lily. The rings they blow are triangular.
• Body Bridge: During the "Following the Leader" number, as the Lost Boys hop over stones to cross a river, Cubby trips and latches onto a stone while those behind march over him.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Hook really shouldn't have locked up Tinker Bell in that lantern once he got the information that he wanted — where Peter's hiding spot was. When she overhears that he's planted a bomb in the hideout, she immediately breaks free and rushes in time to save Peter from the impact.
• Bonfire Dance: After Peter Pan rescues Tiger Lily, the Indian chief's daughter, he along with the Lost Boys and the Darling siblings join the Indians for a celebratory dance around a bonfire.
• Bookends: The movie opens and closes with a zoom into/away from the family house.
• Bound and Gagged: John, Michael and the Lost Boys, when captured. Also happens to Jane in the sequel, though she's only gagged, since the pirates stuffed her into a sack.
• Bowdlerise: The Indians' skin color was changed to be less... well, red in the DVD release. The Blu-Ray edition restored their original color.
  • Zigzagged when comparing the original English and the Latin-American dub: in the scene on the Latin-American dub when Hook escapes the crocodile and yells for Smee to row for the ship, in the original release of the dub he yells "¡Rápido al barco! ¡Rema imbecil!" (Quick to the ship! Row you imbecile!) but later was edited to "¡Rápido al barco!" ¡Rema hacia el barco Smee!" which is closer to the original line. This is funny since, on a later scene, Hook calls Smee an imbecile in the original language while the dub has Hook call Smee "Pedazo de albondiga" (Piece of meatball).
• A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: The Darling family has a teenage girl, a 10-year-old boy and a small toddler named Wendy, John and Michael respectively.
• Break the Haughty: Peter's overconfident ego takes a hit when it nearly costs his dearest friend her life. After this, he seems to have some understanding that things can't always go his way, and thus willingly returns the Darlings home.
• Breakout Character:
  • To a lesser extent, the crocodile. He (or at least Expies of him) makes guest appearances and cameos in a lot of subsequent Disney productions.
  • Captain Hook and Mr. Smee as well. In addition to appearances in various Disney spinoffs, their attire (if not their personalities) influenced many non-Disney interpretations of the characters.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Peter is angry at the other kids for wanting to leave Neverland. But it won't stop him from wanting to save them.
• Bridal Carry: Wendy is carried this way not once, but twice by Peter, both in mid-flight. The first time he saves her from nearly falling to her death (due to a murder attempt orchestrated by Tinker Bell), and the second time he catches her after she walks the plank.
• Brutal Honesty: Peter tells the kids that if they want to leave, he won't stop them, and he can't, but once you grow up you can never return to Neverland.
• Bullet Holes and Revelations: In a moment of anger, Captain Hook shoots his gun in the general direction of Smee and another pirate. Smee gasps loudly, his hand flies to his chest, he turns to make eye contact with the other pirate. And then the other pirate silently topples over.
• Burn the Witch!: The Chief threatens to do this to John, Michael and the Lost Boys if Tiger Lily is not returned, because he believes they kidnapped her.
• Captain Obvious: When Wendy walks the plank, Pan rescues Wendy before she hits the water, so the pirates just see her fall out of their sight and then hear nothing. A crewman then informs everyone that they just heard no splash, which seems to annoy Captain Hook; he makes one himself by throwing that crewman overboard.
• Catch Your Death of Cold: Captain Hook falls into the waters of Skull Rock. He's sick the next time we see him with a headache and a footbath while sneezing.
• Centipede's Dilemma: Peter briefly doesn't know how to answer Wendy when she asks how he flies.
• Central Theme: Growing up is an important and vital part of life and growing as a person that should be embraced instead of denied, but one should never fully abandon their sense of childlike wonder.
• Circling Birdies: When Mr. Smee is pounding a sign on Captain Hook's cabin as he tells another pirate to be quiet, at that very moment Captain Hook opens the door to attack Smee but he accidentally hits him on the head with the hammer he was pounding the nails in with, he then sees stars and planets circling his head as he falls unconscious.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Peter inspires clinginess and jealousy in all the female characters of NeverLand, although Tinker Bell's is the only jealousy that becomes important to the plot. Even Wendy gets a helping of this during the Indian tribal song, but she doesn't blame Tiger Lily and instead tells off Peter for ignoring her. In the sequel, it's shown that Peter's aware of this, but he doesn't seem to know why. (See Clueless Chick-Magnet below.)
• Clothing Damage: Between Peter and the crocodile, Captain Hook's pirate finery is constantly being mangled and demolished so much that he is left a little bit naked during the chase and escape from the Crocodile.
• Coincidental Dodge: Michael bends over to pick up a feather just as a tomahawk flies over his head and buries itself in a tree.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Watching Hook fight for his life against the crocodile by all means shouldn't be funny. But somehow, it is. VERY funny.
• Conspicuously Light Patch: The rock that turns out to be a hippo during "Following the Leader".
• Copycat Mockery: This occurs twice:
  • Near the beginning, as Mr. Darling starts to rant about not being respected while his wife attempts to calm him down.
    Mrs. Darling: Now, George.
    Mr. Darling: "Now, George! Now, George!" Well, now, George will have his say!
  • Later, Captain Hook threatens the children with being walked on the plank unless they join his crew, but Wendy tells them not to worry because "Peter Pan will save us". This makes Hook and Smee break into laughter and mock her, as they had laid an explosive trap for him.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass:
  • Smee. It's not obvious, but he has his moments. For example, his reaction to the crew threatening him is to stick his tongue out and resume the business of shaving his captain. He also shoos the crocodile away politely with his foot, rows like mad to save Hook from the reptile, and captures Tinker Bell in a surprise ambush.
  • Michael and John in battle. Michael manages to weaponize his teddy bear by slipping a cannonball in it, and John reveals himself to be a strategist when facing the pirates.
• Crush Blush: Unlike Peter from the original play/novel, who displays no sign of romantic attraction, Disney's take on Peter appears to reciprocate Tiger Lily's flirtation towards him during the controversial "What Made the Red Man Red?" musical number. At one point, she rubs her nose against his, and going along with the song's lyrics, his face turns bright red and he has a very excited reaction.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Indians have no trouble at all capturing the Lost Boys.
• Cutlass Between the Teeth: One of the pirates does this more or less all the time. After receiving a cannonball to the head during the battle aboard the ship courtesy of Michael and his teddy bear, he bites through it.
• Dangerously Close Shave: Played for Laughs when Smee mistakenly believes he's accidentally cut off Captain Hook's head while shaving him.
  Smee: Oh dear! I've never shaved him this close before!
• Deadly Euphemism: Captain Hook announces that the bomb he planted will cause Peter to "be blasted out of Never Land — forever!"
• Death by Genre Savviness: Before revealing Peter's hideout location, Tinker Bell extracts a promise from Hook that he won't "harm" Peter. She specifies that he won't lay a "hook" or a finger on him. He still tries to kill Peter, to her chagrin.
• Death Glare:
  • Hook gives an iconic one of pure disgust when a singing pirate interrupts his thoughts on interrogating Tiger Lily. Then he casually shoots the guy from the mast.
  • Tinker Bell gives a pretty nasty one after being slammed back into a drawer in the nursery.
• Didn't See That Coming: Captain Hook tricks Tinker Bell into revealing Peter Pan's hideout to him, then imprisons her in a lantern. After that, he and the rest of the pirate crew go to capture Wendy and the other children and plant a bomb in Peter's lair to kill him. The pirates take the children to their ship and try to get them to join their crew — or walk the plank if they don't comply. The children refuse, confident that Peter will save them. The pirates, however, tell them of the plan to kill Peter with the bomb, which does blow up. Unbeknownst to the pirates, however, Tinker Bell had broken out of her lantern prison and flew off to Peter's lair, where, at the risk of her own life, got the bomb away from him before it exploded. Both survive and go off to save the day. Meanwhile, when the children make clear they won't join Hook's crew, they retaliate by having them walk the plank, starting with Wendy. She steps off the plank and falls toward the water. The pirates listen intently for her to hit the water — only to become confused when they don't hear the expectant splash. Unbeknownst to them, Peter had saved Wendy from falling in the water and safely put her in the crow's nest, after which he reveals himself to Hook. While the captured children are ecstatic to see their hero alive, Hook is more than a little incredulous that his whole scheme to have his sworn enemy killed had failed.
  Hook: It can't be!
  Mr. Smee: It's his blinking ghost what's talking!
  Peter: (drawing his dagger to fight Hook) Say your prayers, Hook!
  Hook: (drawing his sword to fight Peter) I assure you, this "ghost" has blood in his veins!
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Peter's three note flute motif (E-A-F#) is played by Peter himself, idly, on his panpipes. His main leitmotif is even optimized (breaks between melodic jumps, stepwise pentatonic scale) for being played on the instrument.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • Hook shoots a pirate for singing and interrupting his train of thought.
  • Hook also wants to kill Peter Pan and his friends. The reason? Peter cut off his hand and fed it to a crocodile. Though, to be fair, this is somewhat justified considering that same crocodile now constantly tries to eat him.
• Double Standard: When Wendy comes to Neverland, the residents either try to kill her or make her do chores, due to her being female; the Indians, mermaids and Tinker Bell really have it in for her. When the boys come to Neverland, Michael and John are allowed to pursue adventures, and are only threatened with death once. Understandably, Wendy gets tired of this and decides home is better, as while her father is strict, at least he respects her and doesn't prevent her from having fun.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Hook calls Pan a coward for flying away instead of facing him man to man. He gives his word to not fly and they fight. Although Hook gets the upper hand, Peter wins the day with his agility and quick wit.
• Drowning Pit: Hook ties up Tiger Lily in a cave inside Skull Rock and threatens to leave her to the tides unless she tells him where Pan's hideout is.
• Eaten Alive: The Crocodile swallows Captain Hook whole, before he re-emerges intact. During a tense moment, Hook tries to prevent being eaten by standing at the edge of the creature's mouth, holding it open with all his might. Hook is definitely a menace to Peter Pan, but in this instance he almost gets consumed by an oversized crocodile.
• Eat the Camera: The camera zooms into the Chief's mouth toward the end of "What Made the Red Man Red?"
• The Edwardian Era: The children come from early-20th-century London. Of course, this is the era in which the original play/book was written, and the era in which every other film version of the story takes place.
• Epic Fail: Smee throughout the movie attempts to care for his captain, but he's not very good at it. While giving him a shave, he accidentally shaves a seagull that lands on Hook's head and injures the captain with some comical antics. When the crocodile gives chase, Smee accidentally hits Hook with the oar. When Hook has a headache from the antics with the crocodile, Smee annoys him by hammering DO NOT DISTURB signs on the cabin door, hitting Hook with the hammer and knocking him senseless, and putting too much hot water in his foot bath.
• "Eureka!" Moment: In his first scene, Hook’s studying a map of Neverland and trying to determine the location of Peter and the Lost Boys' hideout. After reviewing the Pirates' past failed searches, Hook excitedly finally thinks he has it…only to realize the potential lead’s actually just Indian Territory. Disappointed, Hook starts to dismiss it...until something suddenly occurs to him: As natives of Neverland, the Indians know the island better than he knows his own ship! So, Hook realizes the odds are good they know exactly where Peter and his crew are holed up. This is what gives Hook the idea to take Tiger Lily hostage to force her to divulge that crucial intel.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The pirates (except for Hook) are briefly moved to tears by Wendy's song about mothers, and Hook is apparently enraptured.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Smee keeps chiding Hook for not maintaining good form. The first time is when Hook shoots a man in the middle of his cadenza — a pirate singing on the accordion above his plotting captain. The second is when Hook lowers a bomb into Peter's hideout set to go off much later, and Smee says the humane Mercy Kill would be to slit Peter's throat in his sleep.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While Peter has moments of amoral callousness, he still gets angry with Tinker Bell for using the Lost Boys to attempt to kill Wendy indirectly and banishes her. Of course, he then takes it back when Tinker Bell returns to warn him about the bomb and nearly dies trying to save him. When Tink's light starts to fade, Peter begs her Please, Don't Leave Me.
  • The Lost Boys take offense when the Chief accuses them of kidnapping Tiger Lily. It's not that they haven't done bondage games with the Indians before, but they would have been upfront about it and it's implied they leave Tiger Lily out of it.
  • Tiger Lily in the face of slow drowning refuses to tell Hook where Peter's hideout is.
  • Wendy understandably gets frustrated of Neverland after being the Butt-Monkey for the entire movie. She still refuses to leave the island without her brothers, even when they are having the time of their lives and say they don't want to leave.
• Everything Makes a Mushroom: A mushroom cloud appears when Peter's hideout is bombed by Captain Hook.
• Evil Plan: Though it doesn't drive the entire plot, all the conflict generated by Hook is centered around killing Peter Pan.
• Exact Words: Hook believes that adhering to Exact Words is sufficient for him to be an 'honorable' person.
  • When Captain Hook swears to Tinker Bell "not to lay a finger on Peter Pan", she is Genre Savvy enough to make him add "or a hook." Once Hook has found out where Peter is, he uses a bomb.
  • At Peter's mercy in the climax, Captain Hook begs shamelessly for his life and offers to 'go away forever'. Which he intends to do... as soon as he kills Peter.
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Captain Hook exits pursued by the Crocodile (as pictured above). Depending on which sequel you go by (the animated sequel or Hook), it may have gone badly for the Crocodile.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Inverted. Wendy admits when she first met Peter that he turned out to be a little taller than she expected.
• Exposition: Rather brazen, under the guise of "Good Form", about everything involving Peter, Captain Hook, and the ticking crocodile. Captain Hook agrees with Smee that cutting off his hand was but a childish prank; feeding it to the crocodile was Peter's major crime.
• Fairy in a Bottle: Captain Hook captures Tinker Bell in a lantern. Although the container is different, the effect is the same.
• Falling into His Arms: When Wendy is forced to walk the plank by Hook, Peter catches Wendy in his arms. The Jolly Roger pirates are confused when they don't hear Wendy hitting the water.
  Smee: Captain... no splash?
  Hook: Not a sound.
• False Reassurance: When Captain Hook promises, say, "not to lay a finger — or a hook — on Peter Pan," or "not to harm a hair on Peter Pan's head," rest assured, he won't do that.
  Hook: Captain Hook never breaks a promise...
• The Flapping Dickey: Part of Mr. Darling's exasperation with his imaginative children is that he's late for a party and can't find his dickey, which turns out to have been repurposed by the kids as their pretend treasure map. When he does finally get it, naturally, it flaps up into his face during the scene.
• Flipping the Table: Done by Captain Hook when he reminds Smee about the time Peter chopped off his hand.
  Hook: BLAST GOOD FORM!
• Fluffy Fashion Feathers: Hook's large hat plume.
• Foot Bath Treatment: After one of his harrowing encounters with the crocodile, Captain Hook is shown recovering with a foot bath. Smee comes in with a kettle of boiling water to refill the barrel and accidentally pours too much in, scalding his captain.
• Forgot About His Powers: The climax involves several characters being threatened with Walk the Plank despite the fact that they can fly. And Wendy flies several times throughout the movie so it's not like it was a one-time thing either. Possibly Justified in that the pixie dust wears off over time. After her ordeal with the mermaids, Wendy had to flap her arms to fly on two occasions just to catch up to Peter.
• Foreshadowing: When talking about which of the Darlings believe in Peter Pan, the narrator mentions that Nana, being a dog, keeps her opinions to herself. It's because she doesn't need to believe Peter Pan is real; Nana chomped at his shadow and knows that he is.
• Forgot to Mind Their Head: Mr. Darling is introduced searching through his drawers for his missing cufflinks and hitting his head on an open drawer above him.
• Foul Medicine: Early in the movie, when Wendy sees Nana approach the bedroom with a tonic the kids apparently have to take before bedtime, she complains about how nasty it is. This is proven to be true (at least for dogs) when Nana, while filling three spoons, spills some of the tonic on her paw and licks it up, causing her to cringe in disgust.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Wendy wears slippers for most of the movie, however she is seen barefoot only once for a split second when she jumps out of bed and greets Peter when he arrives at the nursery.
• Friendly War: The Lost Boys and the Indians take turns attacking each other as a game. It turns serious when the Chief accuses the Boys of kidnapping Tiger Lily, who was actually taken by Captain Hook for the purpose of trying to get the location of Peter Pan's hiding place out of her.
• Getting Eaten Is Harmless: The Crocodile swallows Captain Hook whole, before he re-emerges intact. During a tense moment, Hook tries to prevent being eaten by standing at the edge of the creature's mouth, holding it open with all his might. Hook is definitely a menace to Peter Pan, but in this instance he almost gets consumed by an oversized crocodile. Near the end of the movie, when he is running on water in a panic while blinded by a flag that had landed over him, he accidentally runs right into the crocodile's mouth and keeps running until he hits a wall inside the crocodile and then turns and runs right back out.
• "Getting My Own Room" Plot: A variation occurs at the beginning of the movie when Mr. Darling decides that Wendy is old enough to have her own room instead of sleeping in the nursery with her two younger brothers. Wendy doesn't want this, because the nursery represents childhood and she doesn't want to grow up — this is a main reason why she flies away with Peter Pan that night. In the end, her father changes his mind and lets her stay in the nursery a while longer, but she assures her parents that she’s now ready to grow up.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Captain Hook finds this out as he duels with Peter Pan at Skull Rock and forces the both of them off the edge of the cliff, conveniently forgetting that Peter can fly while Hook can't and then has to scramble back to safety before he falls, only to fall just far enough for him to cling to the crevice by his hook.
• Green Around the Gills: During the "What Makes The Red Man Red" number, John's face turns green when he inhales the smoke from a calumet.
• Green Gators: The Tic-Toc Croc's shade changes depending on the scene, but he's always a shade of green.
• Halted Slap: The movie uses a variant where the interrupted slap is from an object used as a bludgeon: after she manages to resist getting dragged into the water by some mermaid jerks, Wendy finds a conch shell and prepares to smash them with it. Peter rips the shell from Wendy's hands, claiming that the mermaids were just having fun.
• Hand Gagging: Happens once to Michael (when an Indian grabs him) and twice to Wendy (by Peter and then a pirate).
• Hat Damage: Captain Hook almost manages to nail Peter Pan at the rock where Tiger Lily is imprisoned. Wendy shouts a warning allowing Peter to duck and Hook's hook instead nails Peter's hat to the rock.
• Hats Off to the Dead: After the bomb he sent to kill Peter goes off, Captain Hook takes off his hat to "a worthy opponent", as does Mister Smee. (Pan, of course, survives.)
• Heel Realization:
  • Tink gets it when she realizes that betraying Peter to Hook will only lead to him getting killed. She immediately tells him, while possibly dying, that he needs to rescue Wendy and the boys from the pirates. During the fight she also tries to stop the pirates from killing the Lost Boys in the crews's nest.
  • Peter also gets it after the bomb nearly kills him. He realizes that Tink was right, and that she decided to die for him.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Tinker Bell gets stuck in a keyhole at one point in the movie.
• High-Heel–Face Turn: An inverted example: Tinker Bell's jealousy against Wendy leads her to betray the location of the hideout to Hook. When Hook traps her in a lantern and weasels out of his promise "not to lay a finger or a hook on Peter Pan", she escapes and turns back by saving Peter.
• Honesty Is the Best Policy: Tinker Bell tries this when she flat-out admits to Peter that she tried to have Wendy killed by the Lost Boys. However, she wasn't exactly successful in the "not getting punished" part. That she not only showed no remorse, but seemed proud of what she did probably didn't help her case.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: John's plan to capture the Indians is used by the Indians to capture the Lost Boys.
  John: Therefore, we [the Lost Boys] simply surround them...
  (The Indians surround the Lost Boys)
  John: ...and take them by surprise.
  (the Lost Boys get grabbed)
• Honor Before Reason: Having given his word of honor not to fly in his final duel with Captain Hook, Peter doggedly refuses to do so even when Hook proves to be the superior swordsman, having forced him to the corner of a mast leading to a fall that can kill him.
• Human Aliens: The movie apparently takes "second star to the right" literally, implying that Neverland is located in a completely different solar system. Despite this, the island is home to a number of groups who look totally to almost human: pirates, Indians, and mermaids (not human, but close enough). And for good reason, Disney never goes into detail regarding how mere mortals are able to fly to this land without becoming exhausted, dying from old age, or suffocating from lack of oxygen.
• Human Hammer-Throw: During the fight with the Lost Boys, one of the Indians grabs the Boy wearing a fox costume by the tail, swings him around and throws him back into the main brawl.
• Human Traffic Jam: When John, Michael and the Lost Boys are on Captain Hook's pirate ship, Hook offers to let them sign up with him. They eagerly run toward him to do so, but when Wendy calls out to them, Michael (the one in front) stops dead and the rest of the boys run into him.
• Humiliation Conga: Fights between Peter and Hook are so lopsided that they devolve into a series of terrifying and shameful experiences for Hook. Usually involving a hungry crocodile.
• Hypocritical Humor: One of the mermaids takes issue with Wendy coming to their lagoon with Peter in a nightdress. The mermaid in question is completely naked with only her hair covering her breasts!
• "I Can't Look!" Gesture: The common subversion happens when Wendy covers her eyes as Peter crosses blades with Captain Hook, only to peek between her fingers and watch anyway.
• I Gave My Word: Both Peter and Captain Hook take giving their word seriously. But Peter keeps the spirit of his promises; Hook only cares about the Exact Words.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Captain Hook orders Smee to shoot Peter Pan but his constant flying about makes him a difficult target. With his eyes closed, Smee aims for Peter as he's flying in front of Hook and fires. He misses but for a moment, it appears that Hook has fallen to his death. He turns out to be fine.
• Impact Silhouette: When the boys play Follow the Leader, they go under a waterfall at one point. Michael, The Runt at the End, jumps through it, briefly leaving a hole in the water shaped like himself and his teddy bear.
• Improvised Imprisonment: An exiled Tinker Bell is brought before Captain Hook, where he proposes eliminating Wendy in return for Tink revealing Pan's secret base. Once Tink has indicated Hangman's Tree is the site, Hook traps her in a lantern. Hook has promised not to lay hand or hook on Peter in Exact Words. Nothing was said about bombs, however. Poor Tink can only beat futilely against the glass lenses.
• Improvised Zipline: During the "Following the Leader" sequence, Michael uses his teddy bear to slide down a vine in the jungle.
• Injun Country: The movie portrays Injun Country as dangerous, but ultimately the Indians are more sympathetic than the dastardly white pirates. The Indians have both teepees and totem poles, but they are part of a Magical Land to begin with.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Peter Pan, Wendy, and Captain Hook were all modeled after their voice actors.
• Instantly Defeathered Bird: Mr Smee sets up to shave Capt Hook's stubble and moustache, but a female gull lands on the towel over Hook's face to make a nest. Smee then accidentally lathers, shaves, and powders the gull's butt instead. Smee slaps some aftershave onto the seagull's bare behind. The gull then looks at her bare butt, gasps, covers her butt, and flies off squawking in distress.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Occurs when John is explaining to the lost boys the strategy they should use to fight the Indians, while all of them except for Michael are oblivious to the fact that the Indians, disguised as trees, are using the exact same strategy against them.
  John: Now remember, the Indian is cunning, but not intelligent. Therefore, we simply surround them, and take them by sur— [John is pulled into the fake tree behind him] —PRISE! [Indians attack]
• Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: Captain Hook gets one when Smee hits him with a hammer. Smee even mistakes the smile for one of genuine happiness.
• I Surrender, Suckers!: After Peter spares Hook's life (see Please, I Will Do Anything!), Hook then tries to attack Peter, who turns his back to crow in victory, using his hook since Peter threw his sword aside. Wendy calls out to Peter to look out, and he promptly sidesteps the attack, causing Hook to lose his footing on the topsail, and it's down into the waiting jaws of the crocodile he goes.
• It's Personal:
  • Hook wants to kill Peter for cutting off his hand and tossing it to the crocodile.
  • For most of the movie Peter treats Hook like a Friendly Enemy, in that he toys with him and mocks the captain at every point. When Hook's bomb nearly kills Tinker Bell, and the pirate tries to kill Wendy and the Lost Boys, however, Peter tells him "This time you've gone too far!" and fights him more seriously.
• I Want My Mommy!: After Wendy sings the song "Your Mother and Mine" to the Lost Boys, Michael says, "I wanna see my mother!"
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • George Darling is a strict father, but he loves his children.
  • Peter is very cocky and can pull mean pranks both on his friends and his enemies, but he's also brave and stands up for his loved ones.
  • Tinker Bell is clingy and jealous, but also loves Peter and is willing to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to save him from Hook.
• Join or Die: Captain Hook gives Wendy and the boys the option of joining his crew or Walking the Plank.
• Jolly Roger: Captain Hook's ship flies the Jolly Roger. The Pirate Song "The Elegant Captain Hook" ends with crewmembers waving Jolly Roger flags.
• Just Desserts: Averted for Captain Hook but played straight for the crew member he shoots. Though Hook does end up falling into the crocodile's mouth, he bursts out of his mouth a moment later, scared out of his mind.
• "Just So" Story: "What Made the Red Man Red?" gives a series of fanciful explanations for Native American stereotypes. In addition to the titular question about skin color (in short, one of them blushed the first time he was kissed, and they've all been red ever since), it elucidates the "true" meaning of "How" (he asks it so he can learn things) and "Ugh" (originally said by a brave the first time he laid eyes on his Gonk of a mother-in-law).
• Kid Hero All Grown Up: In the sequels, Wendy and her siblings have grown up and lived normal lives, while Peter and the Lost Boys have remained the same age. (This notion is drawn from the novel.)
• The Kids Are American: Inverted, as the Darling kids (with the exception of Michael) are practically the only characters with British accents. Everyone else sounds American.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Make that killed mid-song. During a conversation with Smee, Captain Hook is interrupted by an accordion-wielding pirate in the rigging, singing about the pirate's life. Without so much as glancing back, Hook draws a pistol, aims it over his shoulder and fires. Cue a drawn-out, falling note and a splash. To make things all the more ironic, the unfortunate crewman's last words (well, lyrics) were: "The life of a pirate is short!"
  Smee: Oh, dear, dear, dear, Captain Hook. Shooting a man in the middle of his cadenza? That ain't good form, you know.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Tinker Bell gets 3:
  • Deliberately breaks Wendy’s reflection on the water during her flight? She nearly gets eaten by a fish.
  • Tries to have Wendy killed by the Lost Boys? She gets banished by Peter.
  • Reveals Peter’s hideaway to Hook out of petty jealousy towards Wendy? She gets trapped in a lantern by Hook.
• Left Stuck After Attack: When fighting with Peter Pan, Captain Hook gets his Hook Hand stuck in his ship's mast.
  Hook: Curse this hook!
• Leitmotif: "Never Smile at a Crocodile" becomes one for the crocodile. Peter Pan has one as well, instantly recognizable just from its first three notes. The movie gets a lot of mileage out of those three notes.
• Lemony Narrator: Mr. Darling bumps his head on his dresser drawer while looking for his cufflinks. The narrator then drops this snark:
  Narrator: Well... Mr. Darling was a practical man.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Peter is a boy who can fly and is immortal. Thus, he tends to treat adventures, flying, and people frivolously. But any time he fights? He uses flight to his advantage and can match Hook blow for blow.
• Lighter and Softer: Than the original novel/play, but Darker and Edgier than the sequel. In the book, the children were missing for several days, with Nana rushing to alert the Darlings that their kids were flying out. Here, they're only gone for a few hours.
• Little "No": Hook says these in succession when, at Skull Rock, he hears the crocodile coming toward him, after Peter Pan teasingly asks, "Do you hear something?"
• Living Shadow: The eponymous protagonist has a living shadow that escaped, and he has to have Wendy sew it back on.
• Loophole Abuse: Hook keeps his promise to Tinker Bell "not to lay a finger or a hook on Peter Pan" by instead trying to blow him up with a bomb.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Captain Hook has an encounter with the crocodile, wherein he loses a shoe, a sock, his coat, and has his shirt and pants badly torn.
• Losing Your Head: This is referenced in a scene where Smee mistakenly thinks that he decapitated Captain Hook while giving him a shave and tells Hook that he will find his head, not realizing that this would have killed him, or that there should have been more blood if it had happened. He had actually just covered Hook's head with a towel and somehow didn't notice that he had been shaving a seagull that landed on it and then flew away.
• Lost in Imitation:
  • Disney was the first to have the Lost Boys unable to fly (though in Return to Neverland they are briefly seen flying to show Jane how pixie dust works), a trend that was replicated by future adaptations.
  • In the book, Slightly, not Curly/Cubby, was the pudgy Lost Boy. Disney chose to make Curly/Cubby the fat one, and every adaptation since then has done the same.
  • This was also the first movie version of Peter Pan to break the stage tradition of having Peter Pan be played by a woman. This is somewhat ironic since casting adult women as the voices of young boys is a common practice in the animation industry to this day. Nevertheless, Disney cast Bobby Driscoll, its juvenile star of the day, as not just Peter's voice but also his animation reference model (outside of the flying and fighting scenes, which employed professional dancer Roland Dupree). However, Disney kept the stage tradition of having the same actor play Mr. Darling and Captain Hook.
  • This was the first adaptation to suggest Neverland is in a star floating in space, and since then later adaptations like the otherwise very faithful 2003 version have picked this up.
• Low Clearance: As Hook and Smee begin to row away, Hook is standing on the boat, screaming, "Row for the ship! ROW FOR THE SHI—" and bonks into the wall, while Smee is earlier seen ducking down to avoid getting hit.
• Match Cut:
  • As Hook tells the children about the Time Bomb he laid in Pan's hideout, the scene focuses on the clock attached to the bomb, then it dissolves to Smee describing the clock with his arms in the same position as its "arms".
  • At the end, after Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, the Darling children, and the Lost Boys return to London from Neverland by making Captain Hook's ship fly away into the sky, we see a full moon turn into the Big Ben clock tower, which turns into a grandfather clock inside the Darling family residence.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Unlike the original play and novel, where Peter Pan and Neverland are explicitly real, this film leaves it ambiguous whether the trip to Neverland was All Just a Dream of Wendy's or not. Return to Never Land, on the other hand, drops all pretense and shows Peter and Tinker Bell reuniting with the adult Wendy at the end.
• Meaningful Echo: Mr. Darling, while heading out to the party at the beginning of the movie comments that the kids need to grow up and be practical. After Peter says that the Darlings are staying in Neverland, Wendy says the exact same thing to him.
• Mickey Mousing: This movie was one of the classics that codified the musical traditions of Disney.
• Misplaced Retribution: Even though the boys were at fault for taking their father's cufflinks and drawing on his shirtfront, George blames Wendy, who had no idea what her brothers did, for telling them a story that featured it. Of course, he doesn't explain it clearly to Wendy, who is very confused about his shirtfront being covered in chalk, and instead says that her stories are "silly" and filling the boys' heads with nonsense.
• Misplaced Wildlife: There are North American animals such as grizzly bears and African animals such as hippopotamuses, monkeys and rhinoceroses, living on the same continent, and also presumably within a few miles of each other — and in their native habitats, too. They (partly) justify it by implying (during Peter and the kids' flight from London) that Neverland exists in a separate solar system and thus is a different planet (which makes the pirates and the Indians examples of Fantasy Counterpart Culture). At least the crocodile doesn't stick out too badly, since crocodiles are found in the Caribbean, which is the kind of place you'd expect to encounter folks like Captain Hook and his crew.
• Missed Him by That Much: Peter and Captain Hook do this around a rock when Peter is pretending to be a water spirit.
• Mobile Shrubbery: The Indians do this to capture John, Michael, and the Lost Boys.
• Musicalis Interruptus: Captain Hook shoots one of his pirates down from the rigging as he's playing the accordion and singing a stanza of the Villain Song. Smee reprimands him for it.
  "Oh, dear, dear, dear, Captain Hook. Shooting a man in the middle of his cadenza?"
• My God, You Are Serious!: The Lost Boys have a game of cat-and-mouse with the local natives, constantly trying to catch each other and then turning them loose. Much to their surprise, after being captured, they find out that the natives aren't playing around this time, blaming them for the kidnapping of Princess Tiger Lily (which was Captain Hook's doing) and threatening to burn them at the stake if she wasn't brought back by sunset. Fortunately, Peter managed to save Tiger Lily and get her back in time to square everything away.
• Mythology Gag: A couple involving Captain Hook, calling to attention traits of J. M. Barrie's Hook that the Disney version avoids or subverts:
  • In the beginning, when John and Michael are playing Peter Pan and Captain Hook in the nursery, John is wearing the "hook" on his right hand, like Hook in the original novel/play. However, Wendy steps in and corrects him that Hook misses his left hand, a change the Disney animators consciously made because it made Hook easier to animate if he could still use his right hand properly.
  • During Hook and Smee's first scene, after Hook has shot a pirate "in the middle of his cadenza" and Smee hints that this can hardly be said to be good form, Hook explodes with "Good form, Mister Smee? BLAST GOOD FORM! Did Peter Pan show GOOD FORM when he did THIS TO ME?!" This is in direct contrast to the original Hook, to whom "good form" was extremely important. (Though it has to be said, he too killed his own pirates without thought for petty reasons, such as ruffling his lace collar.)
  • Near the end, the Darlings return home to find Wendy's bed empty, only to find her asleep by the window. A nod to the original play where they return home to find their children missing since they left with Peter.
  • The ending has Mr. Darling recognizing the pirate ship as 'something he'd seen before'. In-universe, this suggests a much earlier trip to Neverland before he lost his love of fantasy, but it doubles as a very subtle reference to the fact that in many stage productions, the same actor who plays Hook usually plays Mr. Darling.
  • The film keeps with the tradition of Hook and Mr. Darling being played by the same actor; both share the same voice actor and have a similar overall design to each other (though Mr. Darling is much rounder overall than Hook).
• Narnia Time: The Darling children spend two days in Neverland, yet when they go back to London, only a few hours have passed and their parents are returning home from the party that they left to attend at the beginning of the story.
• Never Bareheaded: Wendy, who even sleeps with her hair bow in place. Which is particularly hard to miss since she spends the whole movie in her nightgown.
• Never Land: Unlike the novel and the play, Neverland actually does prevent you from aging. This is most prominent in the sequel Return to Never Land.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: Downplayed. Despite featuring the cut sung that is the Trope Namer, this movie's take on the Crocodile is more comical than threatening, with his pursuit of Hook playing out in slapstick fashion. Unlike his book counterpart, who was singlemindedly vicious toward Hook. The Disney Croc isn't exactly fussed about getting at Hook, and is happy to simply mess with his head, though the ending shows he will happily take a bite (or more!) out of Hook if the opportunity presents itself. He also never menaces any of the good guys.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Mr. Darling instigates the whole plot of the movie by setting Nana outside and ordering Wendy to move out of the nursery the next day. Wendy reveals later that Nana stole Peter's shadow while he was listening to Wendy's stories at the window. With no dog to protect the children, Peter comes, gets his shadow back, and easily convinces the kids to come to Neverland.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Captain Hook calls Peter a coward for flying away instead of fighting him man to man. Peter says "No one calls Pan a coward and lives" and gives his word to fight Hook without flying.
• Not Now, Kiddo: Michael spots an Indian trying to capture him and the other boys, but he can't tell the others, because he's inhibited by Huddle Power.
• Not Quite Forever:
  Peter: Tinker Bell! I hereby banish you forever.
  Wendy: Please, not forever.
  Peter: Well, for a week then.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Captain Hook gives the Darling children and the Lost Boys the choice to either join his crew or walk the plank.
• Offing the Annoyance: Captain Hook shoots one of his own pirates for his loud, annoying singing.
  Mr. Smee: Shooting a man in the middle of his cadenza? That ain't good form, you know.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Wendy gets this twice. First when she falls toward a bunch of sharp-looking rocks after the Lost Boys fire various weapons at them. Then as she exits Hangman's Tree and finds herself surrounded by the pirates, who have captured her brothers and the Lost Boys.
  • Hook gets several of these:
    • When he first sees the crocodile approaching the ship fearing he would eat him.
    • When he finds himself standing in thin air due to Peter's distraction.
    • As he notices the crocodile approaching him while hanging onto the cliff he fell off of.
    • When he screams "WHOAAAAH!" as he sees the crocodile swimming toward him.
    • When he sees Peter show up alive after believing he died in the explosion. Smee gets the same reaction at the same time.
  • Peter reacts this way when he realizes his present is actually a bomb just a second before it explodes.
• Oh, My Gods!: John exclaims "By Jove!" during his second attempt to fly.
• Ominous Opera Cape: Mr. Darling wears a top hat, tuxedo, cane, and black-red cape, an outfit similar to Count Dracula's.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: When Smee tells Captain Hook that Peter Pan had banished Tinker Bell for trying to get Wendy killed, Hook gets the idea to use the pixie for a plan to discover Peter's hideout. Throughout their conversation, however, Smee believes that Hook has made up his mind to leave Neverland, and he prepares to chart a course until Hook makes his true plans clear.
• Only Sane Man:
  • On the pirates' side, Smee is the only one who simply tries to talk to the Captain about leaving Peter Pan behind and buttering him up. The rest of the pirates are verging on mutiny, and Hook is too obsessed with Peter.
  • Wendy is the only one of the kids who sees Neverland is not all that cracked up to be as she thought. When Peter slights her one time too many, she Grew a Spine and decides to leave with her brothers.
  • Tiger Lily is the only resident of Neverland who doesn't really get up to any crazy shenanigans, and also the only female present who does not have any vendetta against Wendy.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Peter is constantly laid-back and jovial. Even when he has to banish Tinker Bell, he does so in a dramatic voice. But he suddenly gets very serious when the Lost Boys want to leave Neverland.
  Peter: Go on! Go back and grow up. But I'm warning you, once you're grown up, you can never come back. Never!
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Bill Thompson, voicing Smee, occasionally tries to pronounce the odd word with an Irish accent. It's not exactly convincing, so it's hardly surprising that Jeff Bennett, who voices Smee in modern Disney productions (including Return to Neverland), completely drops this and makes Smee an all-out American.
• Opening Chorus: The film, like most Disney movies of the time, opens with one.
• Opening Monologue: A narrator introduces us to the family in the opening scene.
• Or Was It a Dream?: The movie follows this trope when parents George and Mary return home from their party on the same night, to find Wendy asleep at the window. Nana licks her to wake her and she yawns before immediately telling her parents about what had happened (John and Michael, meanwhile, are still asleep and Nana and Mrs. Darling simply readjust their duvets). A pirate ship made of clouds sails across the moon shortly thereafter, only for the wind to break it into clouds itself. In the end it's left ambiguous whether Wendy and her brothers really did fly to Neverland or whether Wendy just dreamed it — although George, watching the ship, says he knows he's seen it before.
• Overly Long Name: How Wendy introduces herself to Peter:
  Wendy: My name's Wendy. Wendy Moira Angela Darling.
  Peter: Wendy's enough.
• Pain-Powered Leap: This happens to Captain Hook when Mr. Smee accidentally lets the water Hook is soaking his feet in get too hot while Hook is unconscious from Smee unwittingly knocking him out earlier and when the crocodile almost bit his left feet, causing him to loose his buckle shoe and long sock, during his battle with the Crocodile in Skull Rock.
• Pain to the Ass: The sole purpose of the unfortunate seagull who nests in Hook's face towel. While sleeping on the "nest," Smee mistakes the seagull's rear end for Hook's face, shaves her butt, and slaps on some aftershave. The sting of the aftershave is enough to send her flying off so fast Smee doesn't notice her departure and thinks Hook's been decapitated.
• Parachute Petticoat: Wendy Darling's blue nightgown balloons out for a moment despite having no petticoats as she lands on the Big Ben's hand during "You Can Fly!"
• Peace Pipe: Peter and the Indian Chief smoke a peace pipe after Peter rescues Tiger Lily. Wendy refuses to smoke or allow Michael to do so. John takes a puff of the pipe and immediately turns Green Around the Gills.
• Pirate Song: Captain Hook's crew sings "A Pirate's Life for Me", about how they love living as freebooters and criminals.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The pirates of the Jolly Roger don't seem to do anything but hang around an island inhabited only by a single tribe of indigenous people and some children, sing songs, and try to kill Peter Pan. This is justified; Captain Hook has been so obsessed with getting revenge on Peter for cutting off his hand that he has remained anchored at the island. By the time the film begins, the crew is getting impatient just sitting around, and make it clear to Mr. Smee they want to get back to doing what pirates are supposed to do: sail the seas and raid ships.
• Please, I Will Do Anything!: Just when it looks like Hook has the drop on Peter Pan (see Prepare to Die below), Peter grabs the ship's skull-and-crossbones flag and wraps up Hook in it. In the process, Hook loses his sword, Peter takes it and threatens Hook with it, which leads to Hook nervously saying basically this phrase:
  Hook: You wouldn't do old Hook in now, would you, lad? I'll go away forever. I'll do anything you say.
  Peter: Well... all right. If you... say you're a codfish.
  Hook: (gulps nervously) I'm a codfish.
  Peter: Louder!
  Hook: (wailing) I'M A CODFISH!!
  Peter: All right, Hook, you're free to go and never return.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Captain Hook and Peter Pan, respectively. The former is a well-mannered (if a bit temperamental) gentleman who takes off his hat when he believes he killed Peter, considering him a "worthy opponent". The latter is a bratty kid who keeps mocking and insulting his opponent, and laughs at Hook's potential death by the crocodile.
• Possession Presumes Guilt: When Tinker Bell goes to Peter's hideout to wake up the Lost Boys so they can help her take Wendy down, she wakes up Slightly by hitting him on the head with Cubby's club, much to his annoyance. The club lands in Cubby's arms, and when Slightly sees this, he accuses Cubby of hitting him.
• Prepare to Die: Said word for word by Hook when he finally has Peter cornered and weaponless, in stark contrast to Disney's later reluctance to refer to death in any way.
• Rage Breaking Point: Mr. Darling, whose patience had been repeatedly pushed throughout the evening, doesn't take it well when he has a nasty fall and his family appears more concerned with the well-being of family dog Nana.
  Mr. Darling: "Poor Nana"?! THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!
• Recycled Animation: During "What Makes the Red Man Red?", the same animation of an Indian woman ordering Wendy to gather firewood is used twice (though it skips a little further the second time).
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The eponymous protagonist's nemesis, Captain Hook, wears a red jacket with a red pirate hat and has black hair.
• Relocating the Explosion: Tinker Bell snatches Hook's time bomb from Peter and flies it away in order to save him.
• Repeat to Confirm: Smee repeats Captain Hook's orders as he calls out the coordinates for shooting down Peter and the Darlings. Smee begins to repeat Hook's command to fire, but stops himself and plugs his ears in anticipation of the cannon firing.
• Say My Name: "SMEEEEEEE!!!"
• Say It: After Pan has defeated Hook and has him tied up and at the point of his own sword, the latter begs the former not to kill him. Pan acquiesces so long as Hook admits he's a cold fish. Hook complies, but Pan forces him to say it again louder before he can be released.
  Captain Hook: You wouldn't do old Hook in, would you, lad? I'll go away forever. I'll do anything you say!
  Peter Pan: All right, I'll let you live. If you... say you're a cod fish.
  Captain Hook: [Loud Gulp] I'm a cod fish.
  Peter Pan: [moving the sword closer] Louder!
  Captain Hook! I'M A COD FISH!
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Related to I Surrender, Suckers! above, Hook attempts to attack a victorious Peter Pan In the Back with his hook — even though he had specifically promised "not to lay a finger or a hook" on him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Subverted with Smee, who attempts to sneak off in a lifeboat with a chest (presumably containing the pirates' treasure) rather than help Hook or the others fight Peter. His plan to bug out alone is disrupted when a bunch of other pirates fall overboard and land in his boat. It also means he ostensibly saves all of them and they escape the fracas.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: John does this quite a bit.
• Signature Instrument: The titular character is often seen playing panpipes as a Stealth Pun.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Wendy, a very mature girl with the ability to influence someone like Peter Pan himself. During the Walk the Plank scene, she was the definition of composed.
• Single Tear: Wendy sheds one as she is walking the plank.
• Slapstick: Tinker Bell ends up on the receiving end of quite a few Amusing Injuries, including getting trapped in a drawer, stuck in a keyhole and having pixie dust spanked out of her by Peter.
• Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: The Time Bomb passed to Peter inside a present box.
• "Somewhere" Song: "The Second Star to the Right".
• Spared by the Adaptation: Captain Hook. In the book, he is swallowed up by the crocodile, but in the movie, he is simply chased off by the crocodile to his Uncertain Doom. Disney himself insisted on this change, since he figured the character's Adaptational Comic Relief made him too likeable to be killed off.
• Spin-Off: Tinker Bell, besides being practically the second mascot of Disney after Mickey Mouse (appearing in many commercials and in the studio's Vanity Plate), has become a Breakout Character and now stars in a series of her own.
• Stab the Picture: The pirates take turns lazily tossing or even spitting out knives at a crude chalk drawing of Captain Hook on a door since they're upset that they haven't gone to sea in a while. Two knives nearly miss Smee when he walks out of the door.
• Suddenly Shouting: Twice directed at Smee and twice the same word is used.
  • First:
    Peter: (mimicking Hook) For the last time, Mr. Smee, take the princess back to her people! UNDERSTAND?!?!?
  • And second:
    Hook: You will go ashore, pick up Tinker Bell, and bring her to me. UNDERSTAND?!
  • During Hook's intro scene when Smee scolds him for offing the pirate who was singing, telling him that it isn't good form:
    Hook: (calmly, at first) Good form, Mr. Smee? (gets angry and upends the table) BLAST GOOD FORM!!! DID PAN SHOW "GOOD FORM" WHEN HE DID THIS TO ME?!?
  • When Captain Hook loses his patience with Tiger Lily when she refuses to tell him Peter's hideout as he is holding her hostage in Skull Rock:
    Hook: Remember, there is no path through water to the happy hunting ground. (When Tiger Lily remains defiantly silent, Hook's face turns bright red as he loses patience.) THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, TIGER LILY!!
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: To get to Never Land, the Darlings children need to learn how to fly. Peter tells them to think of a happy thought and throws the three kids into the air. The music gets all cheerful and the three kids excitedly yell that they can fly...only for them to fall on the bed three seconds later. Happy thoughts can't achieve the impossible, after all. The real solution is when Peter uses Tinker Bell's fairy dust, a fantasy element introduced by J.M. Barrie in order to address concerns that the "happy thoughts will enable you to fly" thing could be taken seriously by impressionable children.
• Tagline: "It will live in your heart forever."
• Tattooed Crook: Hook's pitch to the Lost Boys includes an offer of a free tattoo for anyone who agrees to join him.
• Tempting Fate: George tells his wife on the way to the party that of all the ridiculous stories from their daughter, Peter Pan is without a doubt the most so. As he is speaking, the camera pans up to the rooftop to Peter Pan sitting on top of it.
• That's No Moon: Michael climbs on a boulder in the field to see where the others are. Then the rock moves and turns out to be the back of a rhino.
• This Cannot Be!: Inverted and played straight: Hook has this very revelation when the pirates learn the answer of where's the splash that Wendy was supposed to have made after walking the plank: Peter Pan, having escaped being blown up by the Time Bomb that Hook tried to use to kill him, had saved her and then confronts Hook.
  Hook: It can't be!
  Smee: It's his blinkin' ghost what's talkin'!
  Hook: (drawing his sword to battle Peter) I assure you, this "ghost" has blood in his veins!
• Throw the Dog a Bone: For Mr. Darling, at least, it turns out that he had a great time at the party and returns home in a jovial mood. For this reason, he reassures Wendy that he's not moving her out of the nursery and was being unfair towards her.
• Time Bomb: What Hook tries to use to kill Peter instead of poison like the original.
• Tongue-Out Insult: When the pirates are introduced, Mr. Smee sticks his tongue out at the pirates for bullying him while delivering his platter to Captain Hook.
• Tranquil Fury: Peter in the final battle. Oh, he's still happy and playful during the whole ordeal, but he just got back to the ship after Tinker Bell almost died in an explosion, and he had also arrived just in time to save Wendy from falling into the water after walking the plank.
  Peter Pan: You're next, Hook! This time you've gone too far!!
• Treated Worse than the Pet: At the beginning of the film, when Mr. Darling trips over Nana the dog, causing both of them to fall, the rest of the family immediately goes to check on Nana instead of him. After suffering multiple indignities, this is the last straw that makes him lose his temper, making Nana sleep outside while he and Mrs. Darling go out (unknowingly allowing Peter Pan to sneak in and lure the children to Neverland).
• Tribal Carry: When the Lost Boys are captured by the Indians.
• Underestimating Badassery: John learns the hard way that the Neverland Indian tribe is a lot more intelligent than he assumed they were.
• Underlighting: Underlighting was used to make Tinker Bell glow.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Downplayed. While Captain Hook is very buffoonish and Laughably Evil, he has this dynamic with Smee, who was dumb enough to shave a seagull's tailfeathers while trying to shave Hook, and then think that he'd accidentally decapitated Hook after the gull flew away. Additionally, while Hook will casually kill his own men for being annoying him and planting a bomb to kill Peter, the most villainous thing Smee does on his own is sticking his tongue out to the other crew-mates who annoy him.
• Villainous Advice Song: Captain Hook and his pirate crew try to convince the Lost Boys, Wendy, John and Michael to join up with them in the song "The Elegant Captain Hook". The "helpful" and kinda forceful advice that they offer is that if they join they will both get a free tattoo andddd... won't walk the plank. So no pressure at all. Unsurprisingly the boys all consider their predicament and make their choice quite quickly, apart from Wendy who is chosen to demonstrate the folly of declining.
• Villain Recruitment Song: "The Elegant Captain Hook". With the Lost Boys captured, the pirates tell them to join their ranks — which actually works, until Wendy persuades the boys otherwise.
• Voice Changeling: Peter makes his voice sound like Hook's to trick Smee into returning Tiger Lily back to her tribe.
• The Voiceless:
  • Tinker Bell. While she does talk in the book, it makes a bit of sense for the movie.
  • Tiger Lily was reticent most of the time. However, she did speak at least once, when she let out a brief but water-stifled cry for help.
  • In fact, it seems that most females in Neverland don't say a word.
  • Tootles is the Lost Boy who speaks the least.
• Walk the Plank: Those who refuse to join Hook's crew are forced to do this. Wendy, the oldest of the Darlings, offers to do it against her will. Peter saves her right before the big splash, confusing Hook and his crew.
• Wham Line: After presenting an unreasonable, pragmatic image throughout the film, Mr. Darling gets a glimpse of the flying ship and muses:
  George Darling: You know, I have the strangest feeling that I've seen that ship before. A long time ago... when I was very young.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Peter to Tinker Bell after she almost kills Wendy and shows no remorse, leading Peter to banish her.
  • Also, Wendy voices her disapproval when Peter eggs the crocodile on in trying to eat Hook, even almost outright kicking him down to the beast.
  • Wendy also calls out the boys for rather abruptly taking the option of joining Captain Hook's crew.
• Where's the Kaboom?: During the scene where Wendy walks the plank. Out of sight of the pirates, Pan rescues Wendy before she hits the water, and a Captain Obvious crewman remarks that there was no splash. Captain Hook seems annoyed at the insistence that there must be a splash when someone walks the plank, so he throws said crewman overboard to create one.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Very, very justified in Hook's case — when your missing body part has converted an ordinary crocodile into a Super-Persistent Predator, you have ample reason to be antsy when that "tick-tock" starts up...
• Why Didn't I Think of That?: Captain Hook does this when he's emotionally manipulating Tinker Bell into revealing the location of Peter's hideout, with the promise that he will help her get rid of Wendy.
• Worthy Opponent: Captain Hook calls Peter Pan this, but only after Hook believes he’s succeeded in blowing Peter up.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Earlier in the movie, the Indians capture John, Michael and the Lost Boys and, accusing them of hiding Princess Tiger Lily (who is held captive by the pirates at this point), threaten to burn them at the stake if she is not returned by sunset.
  • Later, the pirates capture the Darling children and the Lost Boys and threaten to make them walk the plank if they don't join their crew. They refuse, and the pirates make good on their threat — until Peter Pan arrives to save them. As they escape, Hook sics his crew on them. The children take refuge in the crow's nest with the pirates after them, and their weapons not only prove ineffective against the pirates, but one of them manages to get close enough to John to try to attack him with his sword, who has to duck his head with each swing.
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Neverland. The Darling children and Peter Pan arrive there at night and spend one day there, then return to London the following night. But when they get back, it's still the same night as when they left, and their parents never notice that their children were gone. Averted in the original play and book, where the children come back to find their parents distraught by their long absence.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Peter only calls Tinker Bell by her full name instead of Tink during very serious moments, such as when he's banishing her or after she saves him from being killed by a bomb.
• You Said You Would Let Them Go: Hook promises Tinker Bell that he wouldn't lay a hand or a hook on Peter... so he attempts to use a time bomb instead.
• You Talk Too Much!: Peter says "girls talk too much" after listening to Wendy gush all about him while she sews his shadow back on.