this release seem to have draw out more eloquence and expertise from Amazon reviewer than most . it be clearly warmly regard as a classic by the great majority . pc issue , or rather the non-pc issue have be debate with well-conceived and finely deliver statement by both side . as be usually the case in such matter , I do not imagine that the disputant have move a inch from they original position -- or ever will . as for myself , I hold sufficiently warm feeling for Disney 's `` Peter Pan '' to endorse the many five-star rating it have already earn . I clearly remember see `` Peter Pan '' during its first run , once at a grand and lordly downtown movie palace on San Francisco 's Market Street and again , a little later , in second-run at a neighborhood theater on Mission Street . I be ten year old at the time and recollect that the movie be a thing of considerable interest among my friend and schoolmate . the consensus of opinion among discerning ten year-old be positive but not ecstatic . much the same be true for the review that run in the old News , Call-Bulletin , Examiner and Chronicle newspaper . -lrb- why be I pour over movie review in four daily papers at the age of ten ? I have no idea , but there you be . -rrb- the big advertising hook for the film be that for the FIRST TIME EVER !! Peter Pan would be portray by a boy rather than a middle-aged woman . we ten-year old be , as I recall , singularly unmoved by that . most of we be particularly well disposed toward Hans Conried 's Captain Hook and to the Crocodile , of course . both be authoritatively pronounced to be real zorch . -lrb- a San Francisco nonce-word invent by a then-popular disk jockey . it quickly give way before the better know `` cool . '' -rrb- on the other hand , we moppet film critic also generally agree with we elder professional who hold that `` Peter Pan '' represent a artistic fall off from Disney 's earlier masterpiece , `` Pinocchio , '' `` Dumbo , '' and especially `` Bambi , '' all of which have be re-release within we time horizon . -lrb- I be pretty sure that the next re-release of `` Snow White '' be much later . -rrb- compare to those true classic of animation , we think `` Peter Pan '' look cheap , cheesy and flat -- although I be sure we do not use those particular term , rely instead on the ever-eloquent , `` it be ok , I guess . '' in 1955 come the first black and white tv version of the New York musical with Mary Martin . it return in a new live -lrb- on kinescope for the West Coast -rrb- version and again in 1960 , that time in color , I think . as I remember it , that version have much greater impact . Mary Martin be simply better at everything than Bobby Driscoll be at anything . the musical score be better , too -- brasher and edgier than the Disney tune , which even in 1953 be move well along the path to the familiar musical pap so beloved by Uncle Walt . that be then , this be now . Mary Martin 's three `` Peter Pans '' be mere historical artifact , while this `` Peter Pan , '' like its hero , shall remain forever fresh and young .