superb acting and a heart touching story bring Neverland to life

Rating: 8/10 (16 June 2005)

SPOILERS One of the biggest stories of all time, "Peter Pan" is treasured by young and old alike. Telling the story of a young boy who never grew up, Sir James Matthew Barrie's tale has captivated audiences for a hundred years. Based on a play of the authors life and where he got his inspiration, "Finding Neverland" deservedly received multiple Oscar Nominations in 2005. Led from the front by a consistently amazing Johnny Depp, the story tugs on the heart strings as we learn the true identity of the boy who never grew up, and we experience the world of Neverland all over again.
Sir J.M.Barrie (Johnny Depp) is a writer who's current work has flopped badly. Writing in the park with his dog one day, Barrie encounters four boys called Peter, Jack, George and Michael (Freddie Highmore, Joe Prospero, Nick Roud and Luke Spill). Spending increasing amounts of time with the boys and their widow mother Sylvia (Kate Winslet), Barrie begins to come up with his greatest ever work.
Stories like "Finding Neverland" are always bound to impress the Academy when it comes to Oscars. Beautifully written and superbly acted, it is a glorious film which makes us all feel young again and really gets us embracing our childhood. The eventual fact that it didn't win any major awards should be a surprise, but the more you scan your eyes across the nominees for the year, the stronger the competition looks. Films like "Sideways", "The Aviator", "Ray", "Million Dollar Baby", they all emit charm and talent in their respective areas and the eventual decisions cannot have been easy for the voters to make. In "Finding Neverland" in particular, the one difficult decision in regards to awards is the performance of Depp who is fast progressing into one of the finest actors of his generation.
Over the years, Johnny Depp has been in some awful films. He's also been in some outstanding ones. The strange thing about Depp though is that he is always outstanding. This in itself is weird because questions have to be asked about how it took so many of us so long to notice. In recent films though, his variety has been enormous. He's played a pirate bearing a resemblance of Keith Richards, he's played a disturbed author, he's even played a drug fuelled Victorian detective. Whatever Depp plays though, he always seems to actually make the character not only believable, but almost impossible to criticise. As Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean" you could actually imagine that Depp spoke with that voice and attitude in real life, now in "Finding Neverland" you find yourself believing that he was actually born in Scotland and that his accent is his real one. It's like the man is possessed and schizophrenic or something, he just manages to play so many varied parts with absolute skill and ability, he's purely gifted.
To be fair to the rest of the cast, Depp isn't alone in putting forward a great performance here. As the young emotionally fragile Peter, young Freddie Highmore is excellent. Playing the character with heart, Highmore is stunning and could quite easily give Depp a run for his money in a few years.
As experienced actors go, Kate Winslet and Julie Christie are sublime. Winslet received a lot of attention for her performance here and it's not difficult to see why. What's perhaps more surprising is why Christie didn't receive equal coverage. As Winslet's mother, Christie demonstrates why she's sometimes referred to as a legend. She grabs the hold of the character of Mrs du Maurier and really makes the role her own. We know exactly why she dislikes Barrie and whilst we wish she could understand, she manages to actually convince us that she's right. She is superb, and like Winslet, she deserved a bit more praise.
Perhaps one of the things which really makes "Finding Neverland" so good is that it reminds us of our childhood. Showing us a well loved tale in a different light it hits a spot and makes us feel magical again. So many films attempt to remind us of the old stories, but few really grab you by the imagination and bring you back to your childhood. "Finding Neverland" has the rare gift of achieving this, and it should not be cast aside lightly.
Yet, despite every praise we might have for "Finding Neverland" the film isn't perfect. It's ending does feel slightly incomplete, the pace is inconsistent, ranging from fast to non-existent, the character of Barrie's wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) is touched upon but never fully analysed, and one or two scenes do feel unnecessary. These flaws are all justify complaints, and they do ruin the film to a degree, but when a film is so well acted and really does bring you back to your childhood, even the most crucial of mistakes can be forgiven.
"Finding Neverland" is a wonderful film. Well acted throughout, it brings us back to our childhood in a way few ever thought possible. We relive "Peter Pan" as if for the first time, and for that the creators should be thanked. Yes, the film is not perfect, but for the feeling the majority of the experience gives us, we should feel once more like we can be young forever.