Next month marks the 100th anniversary of the stage debut of James Matthew Barrie’s masterpiece, “Peter Pan.” It’s hard to imagine a more transcendent tribute to that milestone than director Marc Foster (“Monster’s Ball”) and screenwriter David Magee’s fantastic adventure, “Finding Neverland.” With his mesmeric performance as the pedomorphic playwright, Johnny Depp makes yet another strong case that he is indeed American cinema’s most versatile talent — his Scottish accent is flawless. Kate Winslet also is up to task as the young widow whose boys are the inspiration for Barrie’s cultural phenomenon, which sparked a revolution in children’s literature.
The pressure is on Barrie (Depp) after his play, “Little Mary,” flops on the London stage. His loyal producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman, clearly enjoying himself) can ill afford to lose his shirt again, and Barrie’s icy wife (Radha Mitchell) is growing increasingly dissatisfied with his aloof behavior. Clearly bored with indulging the straight-laced tastes of polite society in Edwardian England, Barrie spends his days in the delightful Kensington Gardens with his dog Porthos, searching for inspiration. It arrives in the form of Sylvia du Maurier (Winslet) and her four sons — one of whom, the too-serious Peter (an excellent Freddie Highmore), becomes the namesake of Barrie’s celebrated imp. While Barrie spends more and more time playing make-believe with Sylvia and her brood, his marriage falls apart and rumors of infidelity (and worse) swirl. But real-world strife cannot abate the author’s capacity to conjure his imagined place of wonder, Neverland … that is, until Sylvia develops a foreboding cough. Shortly thereafter, the ticking alligator comes calling, and the theater gets real dusty (sniff, sniff). “Finding Neverland” is as moving a motion picture as we’re likely to see this year, and — as the movie poster contends — is sure to unlock even the most immured imagination. (Rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief language. Running time: 101 minutes.)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 12, 2004. Read the original PDF.