The story of "Peter Pan" has become a classic literary tale. Its story of a young boy's refusal to grow up has been told time and time again to all ages through stories, plays and films. FINDING NEVERLAND, the new film from director Marc Forster, uses the tale of "Peter Pan" as a backdrop to the true story of author James M. Barrie and his creation of the famed story. Amazingly, NEVERLAND proves to be more enchanting and magical than any other film made about the famed character. In fact, it proves to surpass all expectations, telling a beautiful story of love that will tug at your heart and really make you think.

NEVERLAND revolves around Barrie at a particular phase in his life. His work has been sub-par and he doesn't know where his life is going. But all that changes on one fateful day in the park, where he encounters four young boys and their mother, Sylvia (Kate Winslet). Barrie is immediately drawn to them and soon becomes a part of the family. He bonds with the boys, who have recently lost their father, and makes them realize that there is joy in the world. He connects the most with Peter (Freddie Highmore), a loner who has grown up too fast. Barrie takes it upon himself to teach Peter how to live his life to the fullest. He also develops a relationship with Sylvia, who hides a dark secret behind her seemingly happy appearance. This newfound happiness is not approved by all though, mainly Sylvia's controlling mother (Julie Christie) and the other townspeople, who find it odd that Barrie spends more time with Sylvia than he does with his own distant wife (Radha Mitchell).

Johnny Depp is utterly fantastic as Barrie. He gives a better performance here than he has ever given in the past, even in last year's Oscar-nominated PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. He portrays Barrie with a childish sense of imagination, and manages to grab attention in every frame. He deserves an Oscar for his work here. Kate Winslet is also fantastic as Sylvia, giving a beautiful performance that will tug at your heart. I would be surprised if she isn't recognized for her work as well. Julie Christie is great as Sylvia's mother, and makes a believable character transition near the middle of the film. She is also featured in one of the film's most memorable scenes, showing how the famed villain Captain Hook was created. Dustin Hoffman is amusing in a small role as Barrie's producer. Radha Mitchell is nice but underused as Barrie's wife.

The single most jaw-dropping performance, however, comes from 12-year old Freddie Highmore as Peter. Coming off his debut performance in this summer's TWO BROTHERS, Highmore is utterly jaw-dropping, giving the best performance by a young actor since Haley Joel Osment stole the show in 1999's THE SIXTH SENSE. This little guy will steal your heart from the first time you see him, and he gives a touching and beautiful performance. His childlike innoncence combined with his eagerness to grow up too fast makes for one of the best performances of 2004. Even though he is young, I truly believe he deserves to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar more than any other actor this year.

Director Marc Forster has done a masterful job here, creating what is truly the most beautiful film of the year. He vividly creates old London accurately and everything seems taken straight out of that time period, plus the screen is loaded with color when neccessary, especially in the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Neverland sequences.

Screenwriter David Magee makes his debut here, and he couldn't have done a better job. He inserts a lot of humor, sadness and thought-provoking material into his first screenplay, creating some of the most memorable sequences of the year. He has fully realized Neverland as a metaphor for other things in life, and states this in his screenplay with beautiful dialogue.

Simply put, FINDING NEVERLAND is awe-inspiring. I was amazed at the depth, beauty and strength of the film, as well as its completely moving and beautiful message. This is without a doubt one of the saddest films I have ever seen, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house during the last 10 minutes of the film. Everything in this film is Oscar-worthy, in my opinion. It has now become one of my all-time favorite films and is without question the best film of 2004. It's a film for all ages that has to be seen to be believed. A must-see film event that is sure to become a classic.

10/10 (A+)

I finally got around to watching Finding Neverland again last night. The film seemed a lot shorter on second viewing than i remember when i first saw it in the Theatre. Maybe i appreciated the 'slow' start more, the first 30 minutes set the stage perfectly for what's to come in a way i don't think i realised on first viewing. Johnny Depp is wonderful apart from the occasional accent problem (I grew up with that accent and there are a few points when i just thought 'NO' and it sounded unnatural, which is a minor quibble) he comes across as genuinely caring, and the sort of uncle figure any child would be grateful of. Kate Winslet's performance is nothing short of captivating, her portrayal of Sylvia’s illness would touch the coldest of hearts. The score - oh my the score - it leapt out at me this time, something i didn't notice, or appreciate, as much as i should have done on my original viewing.

I found myself much more emotionally engrossed and attached to Peter's character (Freddie Highmore), and admired his wonderfully subtle performance which belies his young age, I look forward to seeing his performances in the future. His interaction with Depp is a joy to watch and the magic created in Barrie’s Neverland seeping into the lives of the children is cleverly managed and never overdone. Because of this heightened emotional attachment to Peter i found the final 15 minutes even more heart wrenching and beautiful, i couldn't help but feel somewhat of an emotional wreck as the credits came.

The DVD comes with some unexpected extras. Along with the usual 'the making of' and 'behind neverland' documentaries are some quite charming outtakes, something i was not expecting. The highlight being Depp's talking to the dog as it takes an extraordinarily long toilet break, and 'fart' noises used to make the children laugh at the dining table.

Has my opinion changed after watching it again? yes it has. I have changed my Grade from A- to a firm A and it will remain amongst my most cherished films.

More than anything i love the message of Finding Neverland 'just believe' ... and ‘I believe’ that is where the secret of this film lies - it becomes more magical each time you see it.

FINDING NEVERLAND (2004)

Even though I’m not usually a big fan of fantasy movies, Finding Neverland actually looked like a pretty good one, if not a little too fluffy. But it ended up being a pretty poor and highly overrated film. It didn’t deserve the great reviews and award nominations. It’s nothing more than a Lifetime TV movie hiding behind a bigger cast and budget; trying to pass itself off as some great movie. I found it to be a bloated, laughably cheesy, and sickeningly schmaltzy Oscar-bait movie. Not something genuine that actually does deserve to win awards. This was far from a magical experience for me and I can’t see what so many people see in it. It’s so predictable and manipulative. The fantasy scenes are really bad and corny. And I don’t see how they could have imagined some of the things they did, especially when they imagined John (Johnny Depp) dancing with a bear (and not a real bear, someone in a costume) when he was really dancing with his dog. I’m sorry but it would be hard for me to look at him dancing with his dog in the park and see him dancing with a bear at a circus, especially without closing my eyes, which they didn’t. Wow, they all must have had some great imaginations, or were just really crazy, or both. I can use my imagination, but I don’t see how anyone could see what they did. It just annoyed me.

Johnny Depp has given some great performances in the past, but this is not one of them. I found him to be pretty mediocre and his accent was lousy. Kate Winslet was decent, but again, nothing special. I love Radha Mitchell (When Strangers Appear, Cowboys & Angels, Man on Fire, Melinda & Melinda), but even she couldn’t save this movie. Her performance isn’t bad but she doesn’t have much to do. She should have played Winslet’s character instead. Maybe the movie would have been more tolerable then. The child actors were all pretty good, but not very noteworthy either. Overall nobody here stood out, and of the performances Depp’s was surprisingly the worst.

Finding Neverland is unbelievably gag-inducingly cheesy. The people that usually find children’s/family movies hard to stomach due to how cheesy they are likely won’t enjoy Finding Neverland. Except I don’t even find most family movies to be this bad! They are usually at least entertaining, which is more than I can say for Neverland. It had some moments that were kind of interesting, like the Peter Pan play scenes toward the end, but more often than not I was bored and rolling my eyes over how silly it all was. I didn’t even find the movie sad. It wasn’t genuine enough for me to find it sad. I simply didn’t care.

For a family fantasy movie that actually works and isn’t really cheesy I highly recommend “The Dust Factory.” As for Neverland, I’m sure a lot of children will love it, or people that can handle the silliness, but I’m not one of them. At least I have the comfort of knowing that a much better and more deserving movie (by the name of Million Dollar Baby) took home the Best Picture Oscar. Now that’s real filmmaking, not this exploitive and nauseatingly sappy tearjerker.

Grade: 5/10 (C-)

Magical. The whole cast is great, esp. Depp. I really loved it and thought it deserved the acclaim it received. The ending scene was a little too weak, but still a great movie. My grade: A-.

Yow - harsh review, man!

Opinion is a funny thing though - I would exactly reverse your comments about M$B - which I found to be the "exploitive and nauseatingly sappy tearjerker" - while FN restored my faith in "real filmmaking" last year.

To each his own...

B


Finding Neverland is, without a doubt, one of 2004's most overrated films. I just don't understand why it got so much acclaim and so much award attention. It certainly was a nice, sentimental, fairy-tale-ish production with several good performances, but at no point was I engaged and it seemed like it tried too hard to be a tear-jerker at some points. Johnny Depp was unfairly nominated for Best Actor. I like him a lot, but this one was nowhere close to his good performances like in Blow, Edward Scissorhands etc. Johnny Depp deserves Oscar glory, but this certainly was not that film. Freddie Highmore delivers probably the most memorable performance of the whole film. Overall...I just found the film to be decent, but ultimately just forgettable. The whole dreamland visuals are very pretty and the story of Peter Pan's creation is interesting, not still unremarkable. Finding Neverland and Ray were both very undeserving Best Picture nominees, but at least Ray's BA nom was well-deserved.