This is an impressive movie. Not only is the acting superb, but the story itself is charming, tragic and wonderful. Johnny Depp plays J. M. Barrie, author of the children’s classic Peter Pan. In Finding Neverland, Barrie is struggling to create a successful play. He finds his inspiration at a local park, where he encounters several boys playing. Their imagination fuels his creativity and he begins to see them quite often.
In semi-biographical films such as this, I often wonder how much is actually true. Often times certain elements seem exaggerated and take me out of the film, but Finding Neverland keeps a hold of you pretty well. While I found several historical inaccuracies when looking up information on Barrie’s life, they are mostly amenable as creative and artistic liberties.
Probably the most enjoyable aspect of this film is watching all the little pieces of Peter Pan fall into place. Elements and themes that would make their way into Barrie’s play are noticeable throughout the film, be they subtle or pronounced. This accomplishes the film’s goal of showing two stories come together during the same film: the story of Barrie’s inspiration and the creation of Peter Pan.
Kate Winslet is always enjoyable and Johnny Depp’s performance seems downright normal for a change. I think it was a very wise career decision for him, as he is enabled to portray a quirky and sometimes eccentric character that is actually believable. Barrie is not a caricature or overzealous creation- he was a real man. Perhaps this causes Depp to restrain himself from anything over the top- had he gone too far, critics would have torn him apart. Maybe that pressure helped him.
Regardless, Finding Neverland is similar to Big Fish and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- there’s really not much out there that’s quite like it. I think it was a good choice as a Best Picture nominee, being a unique film with solid performances and a healthy range of emotions. Nicely done.
I think if you put Michael Jackson in charge of a candy company the outcome would be fairly similar to this “re-imagining” of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s story.
Johnny Depp is known for playing some really out-there characters (Ed Wood anybody?), but his abuse of creative liberty as Willy Wonka is downright creepy, looking and acting like a child molester.
Evidently Roald Dahl wasn’t fond of the now-classic 1971 musical version of his story and sold the rights to have it remade shortly before he died. His surviving family allegedly oversaw every aspect of the production and all creative decisions that went into this flick.
I realize now that this means that Dahl’s family realized that they could make serious cash off of the remake because everyone would pique their interests in what the remake was like. Director Tim Burton floods the film with his standard lot of unnecessary imagery, set designs and camera work. It’s also got a minor Gothic aftertaste that Burton seems to command.
Burton claims it's not a remake, but I’ve got news for you- once a film based on a book or other source material has been made, any other “versions” that come after it are remakes. And remakes almost always pale in comparison to the original. This one sure does.
This is an impressive movie. Not only is the acting superb, but the story itself is charming, tragic and wonderful. Johnny Depp plays J. M. Barrie, author of the children’s classic Peter Pan. In Finding Neverland, Barrie is struggling to create a successful play. He finds his inspiration at a local park, where he encounters several boys playing. Their imagination fuels his creativity and he begins to see them quite often.
