Great performance by Freddie Highmore

Rating: 9/10 (19 August 2008)

Finding Neverland is about the life of J.M. Barrie, true. But at its emotional heart, what this film is really about is how a child deals with a great loss, the loss of a parent. Freddie Highmore plays Peter, the son of Kate Winslet's character, Sylvia, whose husband has died. All the other children seem to be handling the loss okay but Peter is sensitive and feels the loss more than his siblings. He is the emotional core of this movie. He inspires J.M. Barrie to write Peter Pan. This movie would be a failure if it wasn't for the wonderful performance by Freddie Highmore. I was really surprised that he didn't win an Oscar for his performance. As usual Kate Winslet and Johnny Depp are really good too but the film really belongs to Freddie.