An imaginative look at how the tale of Peter Pan came to be.

Rating: 6/10 (11 August 2010)

"Just pretending? You brought pretending into this family, James."
Finding Neverland is a story about the London-based playwright James Barrie, and the special family that inspired him to write his timeless masterpiece, Peter Pan, over the course of a summer. It's a cute and charming movie, but not really the kind that I go for.
Johnny Depp stars as Barrie, and gives a solid performance as the imaginative, yet frustrated, playwright. He seems to have wonderful chemistry with the young actors that he shares so many scenes with, and his interactions with his distant wife (Radha Mitchell) are suitably strained. I thought that Winslet was also good in her small role, as the widowed mother who occasionally seems more like a background character, but begins to add more to the movie towards the end.
Finding Neverland is a good family film, and people who loved Peter Pan as children (or as adults) will probably love it. I thought it was a solid, it just didn't connect with me as much as I suspect it will with others. Despite the unremarkable rating I gave it, I have no qualms about recommending it to anyone who has an interest.