A Magical Movie - SPOILERS

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2004)

I saw this movie in a small screening room, great screen along with members of SAG and other acting-related organizations, so it was interesting to see their reaction to the movie. The verdict? I loved it and the audience loved it as well. There was enthusiastic applause after it was over. It is, as other reviews have said, a tear-jerker. But on the whole it is a movie that has you leaving the theater smiling and glowing even as you're blowing your nose and wadding up all the used Kleenex.
From start to finish (the ending song by Elton John doesn't suck as badly as I was led to believe) it is a lovely movie; lovely to look at, a lovely story, and the music (apart from the aforementioned Elton John song) was appropriate and, well, lovely. Unlike some of Johnny Depp's other movies, I don't think you'll be hearing anyone say "the movie would have sucked without him," because everything else was on par with his performance.
Speaking of Johnny, my friend was complaining before the movie that he wasn't a good choice to play Barrie. He's taller, better looking, and ironically enough, looks far too young to be playing the 40 year old Barrie. But afterward he had to agree that he was perfect for the part, which requires an actor who is very much very much in touch with his Inner Child. The way he conceived the character, differently from what the writer had originally intended, was as a man who was out of his element in the adult world, and tolerated his life only because he had a rich fantasy life to fall back on. That part of his character is established before he even meets the children. He is a true naif; his only crime is not knowing how to be a grownup. Whether his innocence is historically accurate or not is beside the point. Anyone who can still remember their childhood can identify with his character to a certain extent. He's bored and distracted at grown-up events like dinner parties and play openings. He'd much rather be playing pirates in the backyard. Wouldn't we all? He pays the price for his avoidance of adulthood with an unhappy marriage and rumors and gossip among his more respectable neighbors. He seems to be apologizing throughout the movie for inadvertently causing problems for other people. And his whole performance is tinged with a wistful sadness, knowing that fantasy, no matter how beautiful, can't change reality.
The other performance I have to comment on is Kate Winslett's. Being a mother, I can't talk about her performance without bursting into tears, not so much because of the obvious tragedy of her situation (dying of TB and leaving her children alone) but because Sylvia is much more than just the mother and caretaker of her children. She is their playmate and their friend. You sense, without it ever being said, that the children are her entire life, and that she is perfectly happy to have it that way. All of which makes the loss that much more heartbreaking.
All the other performances were outstanding. The children acted so naturally, it was like watching my own son times 4, but with a cute British accent. Unlike other reviewers, I can't single out Freddie Highmore though. I felt like all the children were equally good, and I'm not sure what the other critics saw in him that I didn't. Dustin Hoffman's role is not large, but his part is memorable. He gets most of the funny lines, and as his producer, is equally charmed and frustrated by Barrie. But he is also responsible for the only glitch I saw in the movie. In the opening scenes, he is shown greeting the playgoers as they arrive for Barrie's new play with a British accent. But in subsequent scenes, the accent has mysteriously disappeared. If it was impossible for him to do a British accent, they should have gone back and either reshot that scene or done a voice-over. But that was the only problem in an otherwise close-to-perfect movie.
The transition from reality to fantasy might have been distracting and looked silly. But it was handled quite smoothly and naturally. Barrie and the children drift in and out of his fantasy world the way a person's mind might wander back and forth between a boring staff meeting at work and a nice daydream.
The reviewers that gripe about historical inaccuracies are way off-base; the movie states at the beginning that it is "inspired by true events" and the movie really isn't about the life of J.M. Barrie. It is about finding and losing and finding again the magic of childhood. It shouldn't be judged as a biopic.
There was some criticism over the underdeveloped characters of Barrie's wife Mary and Sylvia's mom Mrs. Du Maurier, the two heavies of the movie. But I disagree. Mrs. Barrie is a rather shallow socialite, but the emotional distance between the couple is shown in gestures and things not said, rather than a lot of expositionary dialog. The scene where she reads his journal and realizes that he has gone somewhere that she could never follow is very moving. Julie Christie as the grouchy and proper Mrs. Du Maurier is softened once she realized that instead of trying to shield her daughter from a scandalous relationship with a married man, she needed to be helping her and the children prepare for her death.
The reviews that talk about the "implied romance" between Barrie and Sylvia are missing the point. I did not see a romance developing between them. Barrie falls in love with the entire Llewelyn family. He and Sylvia bond, but it is over their love for the children. His character comes across as asexual.
Is this an Oscar-caliber performance by Johnny? His role is played beautifully, but it fits so seamlessly with the rest of the movie, and it is such a subtle characterization, that I'm actually surprised it's getting as much Oscar buzz as it is. He may have a handicap similar to the one he had last year, when his role was considered by some to be too "light" to be serious Oscar material, and he made it look too easy. But he will have the advantage of being in a movie that is definitely Oscar-caliber, so that might give him an advantage he didn't have last year. Lord knows he deserves it.
As for the people who say that it avoids or sugar-coats the whole question of his possible pedophilia (there is conflicting evidence for this) again I say that it is beside the point. There is reference to "rumors", but it is consistent with his character to be horrified by the suggestion, and really not concerned what people think of him. Barrie is shown as a damaged soul who never grew up because his childhood was taken from him. He escaped into his fantasy world, his Neverland, and when he meets Peter, the one who took his father's death the hardest and became a cynic at a very young age, he helps him rediscover the magic and comfort of his own imagination.