The story of how author JM Barrie "found" his inspiration for Neverland.

Rating: Null/10 (9 April 2005)

This is a good movie. Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, and the others are very good, as they always are. However, paying scant attention to the advertisements for "Finding Neverland", I got the impression that it was a fantasy story, but it is rooted entirely in reality. Some details are changed, but it is mostly the story of how Barrie (Depp) met and became an active part of the Llewelyn Davies family of boys, and through that involvement was inspired to write his famous story of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, and Neverland. The parts of the trailers (from scenes in the movie) where young boys appear to magically fly out the bedroom window are simply depictions of Barrie's imagination.
The boys' mother (Winslet) suffered from a respiratory problem (TB??) and died early, her will requested that Barrie, who had no children of his own, be co-guardian of her boys along with their grandmother (Julie Christie). History tells us that Peter (played wonderfully here by Freddie Hightower) grew up despondent that he was attached to Peter Pan and as an adult threw himself under a London Tube train after failing to inherit Barrie's fortune.
However, the movie, taken as a rather brief snapshot in time, the period where Barrie meets the family and gains his inspiration for his stories, is a very good one. The DVD is a nice one with an excellent picture and sound presentation, with interesting making-of extras.