Movie Review

Finding Neverland

Finding Neverland could?ve been quite an interesting and fun biopic about how a writer?s mind works; it is, after all, the story of how the Peter Pan fable came to be. While the film does work ? to a certain extent ? I was always left craving more, as plot points weren?t as well developed as they could?ve been.

One thing became very clear during the beginning of the film: the casting of Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet is ideal, and the duo saved what would?ve otherwise been an overly cute chick flick. As it is, there are many cutesy moments I didn?t care for, but being very good actors their presence managed to get me beyond those elements at times. Though I am slightly mixed on the film, I?m going to recommend it for their two performances.

Johnny Depp plays J.M. Barrie, a playwright struggling to create a production that is as good as he dreams for. His latest one is a flop, which sends him searching for his next opus. Barrie then meets a young woman named Sylvia Davies (Kate Winslet) in a park, and after spending time with her creative sons, he begins to conjure quite a tale surrounding their well beings.

That is the plot for Finding Neverland in a nutshell, and if you know the basics of Peter Pan you should be able to connect the dots from there. The problem with the film is that it only lightly touches upon the early foundation of Peter Pan with little ?cute? moments. There are also fantasy-like sequences that visualize Barrie?s imagination as he?s building Neverland while playing with Sylvia?s kids ? and they kind of work ? but the script never dives into anything intimately.

The story breezes over these notes instead of thoroughly depicting the psychological aspect of writing; there are many phases a writer can go through and various ways he/she can draw information. It is obvious from this film where Peter Pan components were derived from, but the presentation of many of these moments is quite straightforward and they lack the awe factor one would expect to experience from what would eventually be an adventurous tale.

The film was almost too much of a chick flick for my taste, but thanks to Depp and Winslet, the film managed to be somewhat tolerable. Depp is one of those guys you can usually pay $8 or 10 dollars for at the ticket window and expect something interesting from. He has an amazing ability to engulf himself into a character to the point where you don?t really see Depp, the actor.

With Finding Neverland, he?s not as great as he is in Pirates of the Caribbean, but he has found the Zen in the role that many actors probably wouldn?t have found in their preparation. His persona is more of a fascinating one to watch here than in Secret Window and his performance is easier to believe. It still didn?t seem like that tough a role to pull off and yet Depp kept my attention, nailing his accent dead on and stays in character throughout the flick. Winslet, in a role that could?ve been given to anyone, injects a lot of effort and emotion. Her character is never really all that important and the demands seemed limited; the actress pulls off a believable performance from short supplies.

Much of the film is geared toward 15 ? 18-year old girls, whom made up the majority of the crowd at this screening. There's that Titanic factor with Winslet, and there's the fact that every girl would like to strangle Depp for being married. As a result, the film depends on a lot of ?cute? humor ? kind of in the league of Legally Blonde but also in that light tone of which period pieces (especially those aimed at young audiences) can fall in. Not surprisingly, the girls at this show were a fan of the film?s tone, as was evident with their show of giggles. And though I never cracked a smile throughout Finding Neverland, it was kind of diverting, and a diversion is all I really asked for going in.

Lee's Grade: B-
Ranked #56 of 120 between Assassination...Nixon (#55) and Beyond the Sea (#57) for 2004 movies.

A	0.4%
B	30.0%
C	61.7%
D	8.0%
F	0.0%