More subtlety, less schmaltz and this could have been great

Rating: 6/10 (11 December 2004)

Two performances - by Kate Winslet and young Freddie Highmore - save "Finding Neverland" from plummeting into a routine tearjerker.
You have to admire Winslet. Here's a young woman who could have had her pick of any huge Hollywood movie following "Titanic" (1997). Instead, she decided to take on gutsy roles, women with real depth and feeling, in smaller films that took chances. "Hideous Kinky" (1998), "Holy Smoke" (1999) and "Quills" (2000).
These movies might not have been financial hits or even complete cinematic successes. But Winslet made them memorable and proved what a genuinely talented and versatile performer she is. Even today, she avoids blockbusters for substantive roles in quirkier films, such as "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
In "Finding Neverland," Winslet plays Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, a young widow whose four young sons inspire J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) to write "Peter Pan" after they befriend him in a park. Barrie, recovering from a critical lambasting of his latest play, finds succor in their friendship, which also is the fillip he needs as the boys and their mother revel in his wild imagination.
Depp fits Barrie well. He's so chameleon-like we forget we're watching Depp. He and a radiant Winslet, who could create sparks with anyone, complement each other perfectly. The boys are delightful, but young Highmore grips us with a raw performance as young Peter. It's no wonder Depp recommended him to director Tim Burton for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
In many ways, "Finding Neverland" is old-fashioned storytelling, using cinematic conventions of yore to politely show a character's declining health.
The film looks beautiful. Wonderful cinematography. What bothered me is that director Marc Foster and screenwriter David Magee cop out when they had a fascinating story to tell. It's as if they know what to do to make the audience cry, so that's all they do. True, it works. Because at the screening I attended, several women were sobbing.
Foster and Magee are so wrapped up in their film's magical aspect they don't bother with anything having to do with the reality of these people's lives. The supporting roles are weak. Superb actors - Radha Mitchell as Barrie's wife, Mary; Julie Christie as Sylvia's mom, Mrs. Emma du Maurier; and Dustin Hoffman as Barrie's backer, Charles Frohman - are entirely one-dimensional and given barely anything to do. Especially Mitchell's Mary, whose potential for passionate conflict is grossly underused. Foster and Magee make short shrift of these characters.
Subtlety apparently is not Foster's forte. His over-rated "Monster's Ball" (2001) would have been more powerful were it less heavy-handed. In "Finding Neverland," Foster treats his audience as fools. He does everything but superimpose "This is symbolic" in some scenes and goes to great lengths to point out the obvious about how Barrie thought of certain ideas. The boys leaping on their beds gives Barrie the idea to make his "Peter Pan" characters fly. We get it. There's no need to then actually show the boys flying. We're not that stupid.
As a good-looking three-hankie tearjerker, "Finding Neverland" succeeds, I suppose. This film very likely will win awards. But this story deserved better than what Foster did with it.