Would you say that J.M. Barrie was rebelling against England's stuffy culture?

Rating: 10/10 (27 July 2005)

Sir James Matthew Barrie (Johnny Depp) was surrounded by stuffy rich English people who had no use for imagination. As he got involved with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her sons, he began to imagine them flying and fighting pirates, and thus got the idea to write "Peter Pan".
Usually, fantasies are kind of boring, but they did a really good job with it here. More than feel-good treacle, we get to see how Barrie became disenchanted with England's stuffy culture and was inspired to write "Peter Pan". The fact that Johnny Depp did a very good job with a Scottish accent only strengthens the movie. Interesting support also comes from Julie Christie as Sylvia's mother Emma du Maurier, and Dustin Hoffman as James' friend Charles Frohman.
All in all, this is what fantasy should be. Splendid.