I've never been into the story of "Peter Pan." Sure, when I was much younger, I thought the animated Disney film was good, but I wasn't fanatical (the way I was with "Star Wars," for example). Years ago, when Steven Spielberg released "Hook," his sorta sequel to "Peter Pan," I didn't bother with it (to this day, I haven't seen it... it looks stupid). In 2003, when the live-action "Peter Pan" film was released, I didn't see that either. I simply wasn't interested. Last year, "Finding Neverland" came out, and again, I wasn't very interested. If I didn't care much for the story of "Peter Pan," why would I care about the person who wrote it? But when the reviews came pouring in, it was obvious that this was a movie I should probably see. People I know who saw it loved it, and I eventually decided to see what all the fuss was about.
After watching the movie, I did some research and discovered that this movie is far from accurate. However, at the beginning of the film, it says "Inspired by True Events," it does not say "Based on True Events," and yes, there's a big difference. If your film is literally based on true events, the filmmakers are responsible to make it as accurate as possible, with some leeway for dramatic purposes. If it's merely inspired by true events, many liberties may be taken, because what actually happened is just the inspiration for what the filmmakers have come up with. Get what I'm saying? That being said, a lot of what is shown in this movie is true.
"Finding Neverland" shows us what inspired J.M. Barrie to write "Peter Pan," and it's a surprisingly interesting story. Yes, "Peter Pan" is named after one of the children depicted in this film, but we learn early on that it's actually J.M. Barrie who doesn't wanna grow up. In the movie, he has a wildly active imagination, a child-like personality, and a tremendous love of children. It's a wonder that "Peter Pan" was his only foray into children's storytelling.
Although the movie does get slow at times, it's never really boring. Also, there are a couple of moments that some might find corny, but I don't believe so. "Finding Neverland" is very entertaining, and very creatively made. There are times during the movie where the viewer actually gets to see what's going on in Barrie's imagination, and even though it could have easily been very silly, it's handled perfectly.
Johnny Depp stars as J.M. Barrie, and he plays him wonderfully. It's a very subdued performance (unlike his performance in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," though the showy performance in that film is completely appropriate), nothing over the top, it's a simple, human performance. Excellent as always. Kate Winslet is also excellent as his close friend, and the mother of the children who would inspire him to create "Peter Pan." Freddie Highmore plays her son "Peter," and he's a great young actor. I saw him recently in the movie "Two Brothers," and he was very good in that one, too.
Appropriately enough, this movie was actually based on a play. It's titled, "The Man Who Was Peter Pan" by Allan Knee. It was adapted into a screenplay by David Magee, and this is his debut film. I've never seen the original play, so I can't make any comparisons, but the script is very good. The man who directed the film is Marc Forster, who last directed a very different movie, "Monster's Ball." He's a very talented director, that much is certain.
"Finding Neverland" isn't a perfect movie, but it's well made, interesting, and very entertaining. I guess one of the biggest compliments I can give it is that it's gotten me interested in seeing "Peter Pan," and I'm not talking about the Disney version. Hell, I might even see "Hook."
Scale of 1-10: 8