Come Away

Celebrating the timeless power of imagination and childhood innocence, Come Away illustrates that ability to escape from the harsh realities of the real world.

However, the heartfelt ambition of this kid-friendly fantasy outweighs the execution, rarely conveying the same sense of wonder as the characters and stories — from Peter Pan to Alice in Wonderland — that inspired it.

The story is told mostly in flashback by a mother named Alice (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to her children. She relays her coming-of-age tale growing up in the early 1900s in a biracial London family. Her father (David Oyelowo) is a woodworker saddled with gambling debts.

Her loyal mother (Angelina Jolie) comes from a family of higher socioeconomic standing, which is something Alice’s aunt (Anna Chancellor) pops in periodically to remind them.

At any rate, young Alice (Keira Chansa) also has two older brothers, the eldest of which dies, sending their parents into a tailspin, and also strands the outspoken Alice and the timid Peter (Jordan Nash) without their regular playmate in the nearby forest.

As their make-believe adventures become more vivid, they also intertwine more frequently with the real world. Peter seafaring with the Lost Boys or dealing with the nefarious Mad Hatter (Clarke Peters), or Alice sliding down the Rabbit Hole could be a key to solving their family’s struggles.

Come Away is not so much a fairy-tale mashup or origin story as an examination of the way stories and dreams influence juvenile coping mechanisms and flights of fancy.

The live-action debut for director Brenda Chapman (Brave) is visually striking, with a rich sense of period detail and subtle hints for those familiar with classic storybooks. And it features a Michael Caine cameo, too.

The children are adorably precocious, with a special inclusion points for its multicultural casting. Preteen moviegoers might connect with their confronting the psychological challenges of growing up.

The sequences of the youngsters role-playing as archers, pirates, or swashbucklers provide an energy and charm that the film otherwise lacks. The film doesn’t commit to enough of them, and all of the toggling back and forth makes it difficult for the material to remain emotionally grounded.

The screenplay struggles to tie everything together in the heavy-handed final act. Apparently the magic and enchantment to connect Neverland and Wonderland was lost somewhere in between.

Rated PG, 94 minutes.