Quite magical, acting wise.

Rating: 8/10 (24 April 2006)

Finding Neverland is a bit of a sleeper movie. A movie that you have to discover on your own, I mean, I wasn't in a huge rush to see this in the theater, nor when it came out on DVD, but I did get a chance to view it via the library (yay libraries!) and I was quite charmed and of course emotional by the biography of James Barrie, more specifically, about how he got to write Peter Pan.
I never knew that the story for Peter Pan was so personal to Barrie, and the movie here is a wonderful illustration of how Barrie used elements, mainly with his interaction with a widow's children, to put the play together. The movie uses fantasy and the real world flawlessly to build an excellent narrative.
And what of Johnny Depp? His acting here is flawless, and had every right to be nominated for an Academy Award (He should've won! Boo Jamie Foxx!). It also helps that he's accompanied by some amazing actors, Kate Winslet of course, but I really liked the woman playing Barrie's wife, Radha Mitchell, who I've never seen before, she was quite good, and of course, the always amazing Julie Christie. Also worth noting is one of my acting heroes, Ian Hart, has a blip of a role as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You Gotta Love That!