We wanted to watch something that was about an hour and a half long, which we hadn’t seen for a while. ‘Finding Neverland’ was in the to-watch drawer, where it’s been for a couple of years. We hadn’t seen it since 2008, and had almost entirely forgotten it. I knew it was about the writing of the classic ‘Peter Pan’, but didn’t recall anything about the story.
While there are, inevitably, some deviations from the true story, the gist of it is as it happened. JM Barrie (brilliantly portrayed by Johnny Depp, although apparently JM Barrie was considerably shorter) is not having much success with his plays. He goes for a walk in the park, and comes across a young family with their mother. Apparently in real life he met just the oldest two sons; in the film he meets all four sons, and their mother Sylvia (Kate Winslett).
Barrie had an emotionally stunted childhood, after his older brother was killed in an accident; this comes through in the film, as does his feeling of never having grown up. He likes to entertain the children, and becomes very fond of them in a paternal kind of way. In the actual story, Sylvia’s husband was still alive; in the film, she has recently been widowed and is struggling to cope with four very lively children.
I felt quite sorry for Barrie's wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) who wants him to spend more time with her. She supports him in his writing and looks after him, but he is rarely home, and doesn’t seem to have much in common with her. So it’s no surprise that she becomes friendly with another man, as her husband becomes friendlier (in an entirely innocent way) with Sylvia and her sons.
There’s a nice mix of reality and fantasy; the boys play all kinds of imaginary games, with pirates, native Americans, and sharks; as he watches - and often joins in - Barrie gets ideas for a new, different play featuring children and a boy who never grows up. He names him after one of the boys, Peter, but Peter Pan is really a mixture of all the boys.
Dustin Hoffman deserves an enthusiastic mention as Barrie’s sponsor and producer Charles. The two have a close friendship, and there’s some wry humour in their interchanges. Hoffman’s expressions and reactions are excellent; very realistic and with perfect timing. And while all four of the boys are good, Freddie Highmore as Peter is superb. Apparently he so impressed the cast, and Johnny Depp in particular, that Depp recommended him for ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ which was made a year later.
Johnny Depp is believable as Barry; both he and Kate Winslet show their versatility in this, a rather different kind of film for both of them. Their chemistry, in a mostly platonic way, is good, and the sad scenes towards the end brought a tear to my eye more than once.
With this all-star cast, and a great script, it’s not surprising that we were gripped from the start, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing this film again. Even knowing that Peter Pan would become a classic, it was tense waiting for the first night, not knowing how the audience would react.
The rating is PG, which reflects the lack of violence, intimacy and bad language; there are one or two minor words that are barely noticeable, and a broken arm is the worst of the violence. However, being PG rather than U acknowledges the sad, potentially traumatic scene towards the end. The film is unlikely to appeal to young children anyway; I’m not sure I would want to show it to a sensitive 12-year-old, although the subject matter would be of interest to anyone who has enjoyed the book or film of ‘Peter Pan’.
With that caveat, I would recommend this very highly.
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