F i n d i n g N e v e r l a n d
Director: Marc Forster
Cast:
Johnny Depp - Sir James Matthew Barrie
Radha Mitchell - Mary Ansell Barrie
Dustin Hoffman - Charles Frohman
Julie Christie - Mrs. Emma du Maurier
Kate Winslet - Sylvia Llewelyn Davies
Freddie Highmore - Peter Llewelyn Davies
Joe Prospero - Jack Llewelyn Davies
Nick Roud - George Llewelyn Davies
Luke Spill - Michael Llewelyn Davies
Summary:
Sir James Matthew Barrie is a playwright whose last couple plays have gotten lukewarm reception compared to his older work. While writing notes at a park, he happens to come across the Davies family, whereupon he spends every day with them, taking the family on several adventures of the imagination. While spending time with the young boys, he also finds inspiration for Peter Pan, the story of a boy who never grows old. Once again the month of December 2004 brings yet another biopic that is released just in time to make Oscar notice.
Review:
After the opening credits, the final line says 'Inspired by True Events'. I don't know exactly what's true and what's not about this guy's life. I know exactly 'Jack' and 'Shit' about the real life of Mr. Barrie, so I can't make comparisons. It's really unimportant knowing what's real and what isn't about his life, as long as the movie itself is entertaining. That's my opinion, at least. I could care less if the existence - let alone the historical accuracy - of William Wallace is true and the events that occur in Braveheart are correct, because in the end I was completely entertained. As a film medium, I don't mind the moviemakers taking liberties to someone's actual life if it helps propel the story to a higher level of viewing enjoyment.
With that said, Finding Neverland was not that good, but it could have been a lot worse. Johnny Depp is as good as ever taking advantage of the material that he's given. All the Davies boys were well cast as well, with not ONE of them annoying the shit outta me! Way to go! As for Kate Winslet, well, her job is to always be smiling, then to cough a little bit here and there, and be the mother for the boys. It's not much of a performance, but it gets the job done. Radha Mitchell as Depp's estranged wife did a good job, too. The scene-stealer is Dustin Hoffman as Barrie's producer Charles Frohman. He's very funny, and I got a kick out of every scene he's in, especially during his confused attitude towards the production of Peter Pan, in which he doesn't know what the hell is going on, but is letting it get made anyway for reasons that even he himself cannot understand. Funny, funny stuff.
The plotline is pretty typical, with little to offer in the way of originality. We catch Barrie during a lull in his career, and the juice that brings life back into his imagination is portrayed during the movie's runtime. One of the major issues had to do with his lack of closeness to his wife, who both live in the same house but have separate rooms, and she's rarely in a scene with him at the same time. He spends all his time with the Davies family, and because Mrs. Davies' husband has died recently, the town starts to wonder what is going on between Mr. Barrie and her, and even the boys. According to this movie, they have a completely chaste and innocent relationship, but I was kind of annoyed with the fact that if they weren't slappin' the salami together, then why didn't he include his wife in their adventures, especially after she tells him how she feels left out of his life and wants back in? He doesn't ask her to come along, and instead goes off with the Davies again, which makes me think that there must have been other agendas between James and Emma that happened offscreen. They made no mention of it, but I can't conceive of any other notion that keeps him from inviting his wife - who asks to be a part of his world again - to be with them. It just doesn't make much sense.
The look of Finding Neverland is nice, even though most of the imaginary world set pieces were not very attractive to my eyes. They weren't so bad that I had to look away (but I almost did during the "Dancing with the Bear" sequence; BARF!). Throughout his time with the kids, we get glimpses of the Peter Pan world in short little montages, or perhaps with a heightened characteristic of someone's personality. These snippets of his look into Neverland work less effectively for me than it did for a lot of the audience. One scene has the Davies' grandmother scolding the young boys, then there's a fleeting glimpse of her with a hook on her hand and talking like a pirate. Some of the audience members laughed as if they were in on a joke that was deeply rooted in cryptic obscurity. Time for me to roll my eyes is what that is! Another scene with the boys jumping on the bed, and then James seeing the boys start to glide off through the bedroom window didn't work for me, but some of the people in the theater were sighing in wonderment. Whatever, man.
My main complaint with Finding Neverland is the generic storyline and contrived finale. There is no way in hell that we are going to think that Peter Pan is going to fail on its' premiere, even though they want you to think that it possibly could. I couldn't grasp James' unwillingness to open up to his wife after she finally tells him her reasons for distancing herself from him, and the closeness between Depp and Winslet isn't that convincing seeing as how all they really do is smile at each other and spend time with her kids. What's worse is that the ending is completely manipulative and retarded. I'm not going to shed a tear for this movie. Not one! I was mad that they had to wrap everything up in a neat little package with a bow on top, with the cheesy message that although there are 'hardships', life goes on and they can now probably live happily ever after.
At least he didn't have a drug addiction, or - Heaven
forbid! - OCD! Thank you, God! But it's rated PG, so they can't do
that. They can't have adultery, either, even though the movie would benefit from a little dishonesty from someone at some point. It doesn't even have to be adultery, but just some kind of impurity. Instead, we get a bunch of people who seem to be incapable of doing wrong. It doesn't help me accept these people as anything more than family film fodder. So we, the viewers, are stuck watching a make-believe story inspired by true events about a man who spends most of his time in a make-believe world.
Grade: C-
My Worthless Academy Awards Nomination Opinion:
I don't think this will quite make it to the Academy Award
list for Best Picture. My guess is that
Ray,
The Aviator, Hotel Rwanda
and maybe Kinsley will be more politically persuaded for Best Picture
nomination, with Beyond the Sea and Finding Neverland lagging
behind in the biopic Best Picture race. Probably only two of these titles
will be nominated in the end.
I haven't forgotten The Life and Death of Peter Sellers in this list, because everyone else has already forgotten about it.
I have no idea if I'll be right or not, but we'll find out when the nominations come I guess, huh? Whatever. I'll be doing something else on Oscar night, anyways. I think I have to pick my toenails - wash the hair on my bald head... I don't know, do something else!
Reviewed: 1/2/05