Even the wonderful have flaws

Rating: 8/10 (17 January 2005)

JM Barried (Johnny Depp) has a severe case of writer's block after critics attack his latest play. His stunted-writing is not helped much by his ailing marital life with wife Mary (Radha Mitchell). It is not until a chance encounter with four young boys in Kensington Gardens, where Barrie often ventures to concentrate on his writing, that the creative juices flow once more for Mr. Barrie. The four boys; Jack, Michael, George and soon to be infamous, Peter ( Freddie Highmore) belong to widower Sylvia Davies (Kate Winslet); who recently lost her husband to cancer of the jaw. Propelled by Barrie's ingenious imagination and boyish antics, he and the children become fast friends; although second youngest Peter, is a little more reluctant than his brothers to completely surrender himself to Barrie's fantasy worlds and kindness.
While Barrie uses his relationship with the boys as the basis for his new script; the social circle his wife seems adamant to be accepted into, frowns upon Barrie's commitment to Sylvia and her children. One of those most opposed to Barrie's friendship is Sylvia's over-bearing mother, Emma du Maurier (Julie Christie). There are those who think it most odd that Barrie spends more time with Sylvia and the boys than he does with his own distant wife. And then there are those who sense a darker reason behind his friendship- particularly with the young children. In reality Barrie uses his special connection with the Davies family as the inspiration for his new play, Peter Pan; but he is also on an endeavor of sorts, to mend the somewhat broken family which has seen so much tragedy, and is bound to see more.
This is a wonderful film. It will delight children and adults alike; both for the tremendous and fantastical sets and Johnny Depp's whimsical performance as the everlasting boy, Barrie. It appears that Depp can do no wrong; he chooses wonderful scripts and always delivers an original, and great performance. This man will never cease to please.
Kate Winslet delivers a clean-cut, somewhat one-dimensional performance which is noticeably more the scripts fault than her own; she gives the film all the talent she can muster, but it still falls (perhaps, trips is a better word) somewhat flat.
Dustin Hoffman plays Barrie's agent, Charles Frohman; but i think Hoffman's star-power is most unnecessary. The role is miniature and of no real consequence; casting an unknown would have made more sense. Peter, played by Freddie Highmore is a wonderful little talent. A little wooden at times, but you can see (particularly in the final scene) that there is promise is the boy yet; Johnny Depp clearly sees it in Highmore, since it was he who put forward the actors name to star as Charlie in the upcoming Depp & Burton film "Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory".
While the film is wonderful; it is not perhaps as fantastical as the critics and fans hype it up to be. The script is sincerely lacking; and if it weren't for Johnny Depp's mesmerizing presence, this fact may have become more glaringly obvious. Barrie is written as the ultimate hero; he can do no wrong. For the film to have more substance, this idea would have had to have been thrown out and the character given more flaws. In other words, Barrie should have been made more human. Granted, this is a film for adults AND children.
Finding Neverland is beautiful. Johnny Depp deserves much praise for making an otherwise insufficient script and simple story utterly fascinating. Whether it be for Finding Neverland or one of his future movies, Depp deserves an Oscar. He is one of, if not THE greatest actor of our generation; and must be recognized as such.