Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (17 December 2004)

I cannot understand how this predictable and emotionally manipulative movie can be nominated for even a single Golden Globe award, much less five. The acting is pedestrian, and the story contrived. Even the visually interesting fantasy scenes don't quite fit. Whose imagination is supposed to be at work here -- James Barrie's, the boys', or ours in the movie audience?
The phoniness of the acting is apparent when you compare the final scene, with Johnny Depp as Barrie and Freddie Highmore as Peter sharing their sorrow, with the far more honest and powerful display of grief by Anthony Hopkins and Joseph Mazzello in "Shadowlands."
And why was Depp cast in the Barrie role to begin with? His Scottish accent is unconvincing and annoying, and his range of facial expressions more limited than a resident of Madame Tussauds. I guess he got the leading role for the same reason Dustin Hoffman shows up as Barrie's financial backer: to give the movie a bit of extra heft at the box office.
Surely there are dozens of actors in Britain who could have done a better job than either of them -- and who could use the work.