a story that doesn't need telling

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2005)

I give this picture a seven but it's success depends entirely on Johnny Depp's performance. The story itself is not intrinsically interesting and the supporting cast does a good workmanlike job but nothing stellar. Direction is fine. The real problem is this is a story that does not really bear telling, let alone deserve a feature motion picture with a talented cast. It is a fine effort wasted on a story unworthy of it.
Johnny Depp, I think, has now demonstrated he is one of the best young talents in Hollywood. Certainly he is the best young male actor. He achieved something few actors do well: he mastered a foreign accent and kept it consistently throughout the picture. And he was able to do it with evocative emotion. Only Meryl Streep is another actor who can do this.
Think this is a small accomplishment? Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman failed to do it with a Southern accent in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Tom Hanks failed with a Boston Braham accent in "Volunteers". Maureen O'Hara failed with an Irish accent in "The Quiet Man". And these are all talented actors.
Still, I think the story itself, basically how the author of "Peter Pan" gets his inspiration for this tale, is too small and mundane a story for the screen. Others have disagreed and rate this picture highly.