Friday, November 12, 2004

PG

For mild thematic elements and brief language

Drama

Johnny Depp, Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie, Kate Winslet, Radha Mitchell, Freddie Highmore

David Magee

Marc Forster

Finding Neverland (2004)

The boundless imagination of the man behind “Peter Pan” and the poignancy of his journey combine in this emotional tale inspired by events in the life of Scottish author James Mathew Barrie. In FINDING NEVERLAND, director Marc Forster (“Monster’s Ball”) and an accomplished cast including Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie take a fictional look at the creation of “Peter Pan,” the classic of children’s literature that speaks directly to the child in all of us. FINDING NEVERLAND traverses both fantasy and everyday reality, melding the difficulties and heartbreak of adult life with the spellbinding allure and childlike innocence of the boy who never grows up.

It all begins as successful Scottish playwright J.M. Barrie (DEPP) watches his latest play open to a ho-hum reaction among the polite society of Edwardian England. A literary genius of his times but bored by the same old themes, Barrie is clearly in need of some serious inspiration. Unexpectedly, he finds it one day during his daily walk with his St. Bernard Porthos in London’s Kensington Gardens. There, Barrie encounters the Llewelyn Davies family: four fatherless boys and their beautiful, recently widowed mother (WINSLET).

Despite the disapproval of the boys’ steely grandmother Emma du Maurier (CHRISTIE) and the resentment of his own wife (RADHA MITCHELL), Barrie befriends the family, engaging the boys in tricks, disguises, games and sheer mischief, creating play-worlds of castles and kings, cowboys and Indians, pirates and castaways. He transforms hillsides into galleon ships, sticks into mighty swords, kites into enchanted fairies and the Llewelyn Davies boys into “The Lost Boys of Neverland.”

From the sheer thrills and adventurousness of childhood will come Barrie’s most daring and renowned masterwork, “Peter Pan.” At first, his theatrical company is skeptical. While his loyal producer Charles Frohman (HOFFMAN) worries he’ll lose his shirt on this children’s fantasy, Barrie begins rehearsals only to shock his actors with such unprecedented requests as asking them to fly across the stage, talk to fairies made out of light and don dog and crocodile costumes.

Then, just as Barrie is ready to introduce the world to “Peter Pan,” a tragic twist of fate will make the writer and those he loves most understand just what it means to really believe.