Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Finding Neverland - review


As a playwright JM Barrie is putting all his hopes into his new play which has just opened, but with the audience yawning from the start and clearly not enjoying it, James begins to feel he has failed. 

Despite the support of his wife and financial backer, James knows he needs to cut his losses and start again with a new play, but he has no idea where to get a new story from.

During a walk with his dog in a London park he encounters a group of young brothers whose imagination matches his own and ends up regularly meeting with them and their widowed mother Sylvia in order to experience the chance to play and have fun.

Inspired by their seemingly care free attitude and imagination, James begins to write a new play based on their adventures together – Peter Pan – in the hope of making the theatre appeal to children as well as the privileged, while also trying to help the boys through the loss of their father.

But with his marriage crumbling, James begins to spend more time with the family and begins to develop feelings for Sylvia, despite her mother’s objection.

However, Sylvia’s health takes a turn for the worse before she has a chance to see Peter Pan, but before she dies she has just one wish – to go to Neverland.

Starring Johnny Depp in an excellent portrayal of JM Barrie, Kate Winslet as Sylvia and Dustin Hoffman, this movie had me enchanted from the start.

A lovely family film which I could watch again and again.

Worth a watch even if just to hear Johnny’s lovely Scottish accent!

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