FilmBuff1994 Finding Neverland is a great movie with a very well developed plot and a terrific cast. It is a ridiculously sweet movie as we follow the life of real author JM Barrie, discovering how a close bond with a family inspired him to create Peter Pan. As we see his relationship with these people develop over the course of the movie we can really feel a real bond, it is written in a way that makes it so life like and believable, towards the end, getting quite heart wrenching. It was a little bit too heartwarming at times to a degree that it felt cheesy. Every scene, every piece of dialogue from the characters is very abrupt and honest, but this can feel somewhat forced when it's so frequent. People are not honest all the time, people do not speak the truth, its interesting when we have a character saying one thing, but learn from paying attention to the development of the character that he means something else, but in Neverland, everyone seems to say exactly what they are thinking.The cast is phenomenal, Dustin Hoffman shines in a small, but noticeable role, Kate Winslet is immensely effective as the struggling mother, and all the child actors are excellent young performers. Johnny Depp is, of course, the highlight as Barrie, playing a role a lot more toned down and normal in comparison to his usual Tim Burton-esque flamboyant characters, he is subtle, quiet and delivers a meaningful performance of a passionate writer and playwright, as well as an impressive Scottish accent. Entertaining, with a very sweet message. Fun and well acted, Finding Neverland is a pleasure that runs at a very appropriate time, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good family film or biography. The story of Scottish playwright and author JM Barrie, and how he came to write the classic children's book Peter Pan. Best Performance; Johnny Depp

Benjamin Reed Oh my god! This movie is just incredible. It's a beautiful story telling us about a man who has a wonderful imagination but needs the inspiration of a troubled family. Since the moment you learn Kate Winslet is gonna die, something inside you makes you cry and really feel the movie. Johnny Depp is brilliant, as usual, but his performance in this movie is one of my personal favorites. The way he creates imagination in all the children, especially Peter, is amazing, not to include the incredible "discussions" he has with Julie Christie, his wife and the one and only Kate Winslet.I don't think i have ever cried more in a movie. I'm a guy, and i'm ready to admit that, cause this movie really makes you feel. The ending is as good and dramatic as it can be, and just the story is WOW!I've never been much of a fan of Peter Pan, so when i went to see it without having much of an idea of what it was gonna be, i didn't have many expectations, but now it's one of my favorite movies in the whole world.I really recommend it to everyone who wants to feel.

ElMaruecan82 Children are so impressionable their general perception of grown-ups is of very serious, capable and knowledgeable persons. Still, kids rarely envy adults to the point of wishing to trade places and stop playing games that exalt and satisfy their imagination. It works differently with adults, they have freedom, power and responsibilities but now and then, they give enough rope to the inner child so they can have a little fun and play.Indeed, before being the movie about James Barrie, author of "Peter Pan", who inspired the infamous syndrome of the same name, the film is about playing. It opens with a play that flopped with the audience, much to the stoic desperation of the theater's manager, played by Dustin Hoffman. Barrie is wondering how come a popular and fun art such as theater turned into a pompous and boring depository of aristocratic distractions. The manager, who's not your usual bloodsucker executive but a rather understanding person, simply reminds Barrie of the name of their creations: plays. This is a film that often says a lot with a brilliant economy of words.And as an immediate illustration, the next scene shows Barrie playing Indians with the four sons of Mrs. Sylvia Llewellyn Davies, half a Du Maurier and a widow, played with poignant vulnerability by Kate Winslet. She didn't find in Barrie a substitute for her deceased husband but a playmate for her boys. And Barrie's fertile imagination enables him to find each day a new game, a new source of inspiration. So you have a man whose business is to make plays: to pretend, to create new realities, and doing the same thing during his spare-time. You never can tell when Barrie is working or when he's having fun, in fact, he can't tell either. The only certitude is that his last play lost money and he must come up with something really good, time has come to make his masterpiece.We know where this is all leading to and all through that growing relationship between James and Sylvia, and the children, we have glimpses of Peter Pan's world slowly emerging, and the stronger the bonds get, the more it fuels James' imagination. But the play isn't the end in Marc Forster's movie; the focal point is the relationships, between Barrie and the kids and especially Peter, played by Freddie Highmore. After his father's death, Peter has grown up too fast and still blames his mother for having 'sugarcoated' the news. Peter embodies the precocious maturity of children who have to deal with a loved one's death and in his attempt to resurrect his faith in childhood fantasy; Barrie must also help him to deal with the worlds' sad realities, such as his mother's current illness.This challenge is at the core of the creative juice that made Peter Pan such a masterpiece of poetry, that and the instinct of Barrie who rightfully ordered to keep places for orphans at the opening night so that their laughter could convince the adults to watch the play with their childhood eyes. Some adults though seem immune to that capability: two subplots involve the tense relationship with Mrs. Du Maurier, Sylvia's no-nonsense mother (Julie Christie) and Mrs. Barrie (Rhada Mitchell). Both women can't indulge a man playing with children, as a full-time occupation. How can you ever teach them that there's a time to be serious and a time for fun when an adult doesn't set the example?But that might be the essence of the Peter Pan's syndrome: you don't accept a time for being serious. Peter does and this is why at the premiere, he says he's not Peter Pan, Barrie is. In fact, Barrie is as much an adult as all the others and the making of Peter Pan was a project he took very seriously, he was just lucky enough to have a job where fun plays a major part. "Finding Neverland" might say something about acting in general, an adult way to do kid's stuff or like recent Oscar-winner Viola Davis said, the art that celebrates what life is about. "Finding Neverland" like Forster's "Stranger than Fiction", is a self-reflexive gem that celebrates the inner poetry of life.And Johnny Depp's performance is pivotal because he doesn't fall in the trap of caricature; he doesn't pull an 'Ed Wood' or worse, a 'Willy Wonka' in his acting. Had Depp overplayed the eccentricity of Barrie, he would have looked like a big child, a weirdo whose fantasy creation could have as well been the product of some drugs' consumption. But by being an adult who only acts like a clown for 'adult' reasons, his Barrie turns into a fascinating character, both a subject and an object of existential studies. He tries to drain from kids' imagination some universal ideas about the world while translating it into his language and making the story understandable by adults.He becomes his own audience and his own voice, and in the process, Freddie Highmore -whose Peter is far more fascinating than his Charlie Becket- reconciles with his childhood while still understanding the adult world, he found 'Nerverland'. And while "Finding Neverland" could have ended in that triumphant note, it actually has a deeper respect for life and finds a note that is unexpectedly sad and poignant. Had the adult aligned with the child's mind, we'd have an ordinary coming-of-age conclusion, now, the opposite is more interesting.Indeed, the ending shows the edge adults have on children: adulthood is a mystery for kids, but adults know what childhood is about, it is their role to help them reach that important phase of life, and that's what Barrie is determined to accomplish. Meanwhile he can also ask the grown-ups to slow down the growing process and have fun now and then. Who said Peter Pan's syndrome had to be permanent? Shouldn't we all find our Neverland sometime, somewhere?

Hitchcoc Let's start with the idea that there are numerous biographies of J. M. Barrie, as there are of many other famous writers. Barrie is pretty much known for "Peter Pan" and little else. If asked about his personal life, could any of you come up with anything about him. So what happens here is a fictional account of the writer, making him a bit of an irresponsible boy (a lost boy?). While bouncing around with his writing and failing here and there, he one day come upon a widow and her four boys. Because children are so much to him, he begins to get to know the boys. His interactions help them (with one exception) diminish their sorrow over the death of their father. He also begins to befriend the young widow. The whole story is touching. I won't do anything to spoil the ending. Just to say that it is touching. It's a movie about love and sacrifice and it's beautifully done.