In this the year of the all-conquering biopic, (The Aviator, Ray being the others) Finding Neverland stands uneasily against its fellow contenders. And yet, it has reason to stand tall. Finding Neverland depicts James Matthew Barrie’s private life and his conception of Peter Pan and Neverland.
Barrie (Johnny Depp) has had little success with his plays. Set in 1903, London, nobody remembers the last time they saw a successful play of his. And they couldn’t care less. His producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman) pulls all the strings he can to even guarantee a sizeable audience at short notice, for opening night. On the home front, Barrie has his own set of problems. His wife, (Radha Mitchell) expresses love for him but observes that they rarely even see each other. This is accentuated by the fact that they sleep in separate rooms.
This film is an adaptation of Allan Knee’s play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by David Magee. The initial focus of the movie is on the conflict between creativity and financial viability, marital conflict and the difficulties arising thereof. As the playwright stuck in the rut of writer’s block, Depp’s Barrie has been underplayed.
One afternoon, at Kensington Gardens, probably in search of divine intervention, or perhaps a distraction of sorts, Barrie finds his Muse in the four Llewellyn-Davies boys, whose mother Sylvia(Kate Winslet) is a sickly, but surprisingly active woman. In an impromptu performance where he urges them to imagine a bear dance (with his oversized dog, Porthos being the subject of imagination), he wins over their affections as also their friendship.
All but a disbelieving and thoroughly cynical Peter (Freddie Highmore) who refuses to partake in all their make-believe, and has apparently still not come to terms with his father’s untimely death. He tries to help Peter overcome his lingering grief; in turn effecting the catharsis of his own lost childhood (in a moment of epiphany, he relates to Winslet, his growing-up-too-soon story). Peter, however, is unable to come to terms with the tragedies in his life (he loses his mother in the end of the film).
James ignores the speculation of the nature of his friendship with the Davies’ boys as with Sylvia, and also tries to endear himself to her mother, Mrs. Emma Du Maurier (Julie Christie), who feels that a married man’s presence spoil her daughter’s ’’chances’’ at a new life. Depps as Barrie, works into his role charmingly well, with just the right emotions (unlike his high-strung role in Pirates...). His pain and anguish at not being able to do sufficiently much for the boys, is most clearly portrayed by Depp.
In the meantime, Barrie’s wife, who herself has become the subject of scandal, sets him free to do as he pleases. His life, as also his new venture is the subject of much ridicule, and even his producer refuses to back him, at first - but he eventually relents. Barrie goes on to gift free (dispersed) seats among the audience, on opening night, to 25 young orphans who are understandably tickled by the novelty and scale of it all, and who bring about the right responses from his audience, who declare it to be his most delightful and enjoyable work.
The film, understandably, ends with the successful staging of Peter Pan. And later, a private rendition at the Davies’ for the benefit of the ailing Sylvia, who long desires to see Neverland. Her last wish is fulfilled by Barrie, who then learns that she willed joint custody of her boys to her mother and to Barrie.
Most of this film is based on historical fact, and some of it is ’created’ (for cinematic purposes). And as always the charm of the story itself, works because some things are best seen from the eyes of a child. Imagination, it should seem takes flight, when one ’’refuses to grow up.’’