PETER AND THE SHADOW THIEVES

The co-authors of Peter and the Starcatchers (2004) go to the same well, and that would be one trip too many. When the evil Others come back with a powerful new ally to recover the trove of supernal Starstuff rescued in the first episode, Peter reluctantly leaves Mollusk Island (“Never Land”) to deliver a warning to Molly (Wendy’s mother-to-be) and the other Starcatchers. Despite introducing a chilling, Dementor-like bad guy in the person (or whatever) of soul-seizing Lord Ombra, and pacing cranked up by dozens of quick point-of-view cuts, so dependent is the plot on repetitive set pieces—how many times will Ombra ooze into another clueless victim’s shadow? Or Tinkerbelle use her flashbulb trick to daze some attacker?—that the melodrama soon takes on a labored cast. Overstuffed with narrowly typecast characters and featuring a bulky side plot shoehorned in apparently just to keep Captain Hook and the Lost Boys in sight while the other players are off in London, this formulaic sequel shows two writers for adults who are just going through the motions. (Fantasy. 11-13)