Not that great

Rating: 4/10 (7 June 2015)

After reading some other negative reviews I guess I'm fortunate that I had no real expectations and no preconceived notions or knowledge of the real history of J.M. Barrie. It came up free on streaming so I figured I'd give it a try. About half an hour in I admitted I wasn't invested in it, but I left it on so I could keep listening and went into the other room to peel up some sheet vinyl flooring (yes, really). At Winslet's first cough I said "Dead by the finale" usually I can't predict what's going to happen, and I had no idea that the real Mrs. Llewellyn had died, but as it turned out I was spot on. I finished my flooring project and returned for the last 10 minutes or so, and I didn't feel I needed to go back to see what I'd missed.
To be totally fair, I'm not a big fan of fantasy, so with one exception the scenes of the imagined Neverland were totally wasted on me. That exception was a simple scene where Mr. and Mrs. Barrie said their goodnights and went to their respective separate bedrooms off a common hallway Mrs. Barrie entered her real Victorian-era room, where Mr. Barrie entered a room that emitted bright colorful light around the edges of the door, almost like Dorothy Gale first stepping out into the Land of Oz. This hint that Barrie was living in a fantasy world that was very real to him was a nice touch, I thought, and I found it very clever. I'm glad I wasn't stripping linoleum during that scene; I wouldn't have appreciated it if I couldn't see it.
I'm not a Depp fan, although I thought he was terrific in "Ed Wood". He's fine here and seems to have a good handle on the accent. Winslet's role could have been played by any number of actresses and she really didn't bring that much to the part. Overall I'd say this was average; I might have rated it higher if I were more of a fantasy fan, or lower if I had more knowledge of Barrie's real life before viewing. Not my cup of tea.