GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Finding Neverland
Miramax Films

Finding Neverland reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 67 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.4 out of 10
based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 104 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for mild thematic elements and brief language

Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Nick Roud, Radha Mitchell, Joe Prospero, Freddie Highmore, and Dustin Hoffman

A tale of magic and fantasy inspired by the life of James Barrie, the real-life author of the children's classic Peter Pan. (Miramax)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: David Magee
Allan Knee (play The Man Who Was Peter Pan)
 
DIRECTED BY: Marc Forster  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: March 22, 2005 
Video: March 22, 2005 
Theatrical: November 12, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 106 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: UK / USA 

Received seven Oscar nominations for 2004, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay (Magee) and Best Lead Actor (Johnny Depp). Winner of the Laterna Magica Prize, 2004 Venice Film Festival.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
New York Post Lou Lumenick
Pure magic.
Read Full Review
100
Premiere Glenn Kenny
Depp and Winslet in particular are, as you might expect, immaculate. I don't think there's another actor alive who can convey the intermingling of gentleness and passion with as much precision as Depp.
Read Full Review
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
It's a real pleasure to find a movie as calm, measured and dead-on in its impact as Finding Neverland.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
It's an intellectual family film for literate parents and children, immensely pleasing if not perfect, perhaps a smidgen too brightly evasive and determinedly charming.
Read Full Review
88
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The glory of the movie is Depp, who achieves his own immortality.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Surprisingly moving.
Read Full Review
88
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Johnny Depp has finally won me over to rabid support after "Neverland" and "Pirates of the Caribbean." He gives the most controlled, least mannered performance of his career, staying sweet and rueful while suggesting unseen emotional depths.
Read Full Review
88
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Glorious entertainment.
Read Full Review
80
The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
A rewarding piece of filmmaking that has all the makings of a classic weepie.
Read Full Review
80
Variety Todd McCarthy
An impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author J.M. Barrie came to write "Peter Pan."
Read Full Review
80
Newsweek David Ansen
Mingling reality and fantasy, Forster has given us a luminous, touching meditation on life and art.
Read Full Review
80
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Gently seductive, genuinely tender and often moving without being maudlin.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Depp is a charm. He becomes his own, subtly compelling Barrie.
Read Full Review
78
Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
Takes you back to a time in which people – children, in particular – still created whole worlds in their heads, inventing characters and situations as far away as their flights of fancy would take them.
Read Full Review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Because it's a well-crafted and superbly acted sweet little tearjerker, we're content too -- it's a mild pleasure to watch.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Delightful and moving - although fanciful.
Read Full Review
75
USA Today Claudia Puig
The story is told gently and simply without excess sentimentality. It is a welcome departure from more contrived holiday fare.
Read Full Review
75
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Depp portrays a fellow who is openly gentle to the core, and the actor just about wraps the movie around his lilting delivery and quiescent gaze.
Read Full Review
75
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Compelling and life-affirming.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Forster keeps the picture as a whole in perfect tune with Depp's approach.
Read Full Review
70
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film rests on Depp's evocation of Barrie's gentle, playfulness and deeply buried sorrows; it's difficult to imagine another actor so gracefully evoking Barrie's childlike qualities without seeming creepy or emotionally malformed, and only the hard of heart will come away dry-eyed.
Read Full Review
70
Chicago Reader Meredith Brody
The plays and amusements the boys put on--by far the most successfully magical scenes in the movie--inspire Barrie to create his great work, "Peter Pan."
Read Full Review
70
Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar
A worthwhile way to spend some of your precious leisure time, especially in this season of obnoxious cartoons and ham-handed holiday fare.
Read Full Review
70
Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
We have a whole new reason to appreciate cinema's most creative chameleon (Depp) since Peter Sellers. The film itself is pretty and sweet but a tad soggy.
Read Full Review
67
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Handsome, professional and dutiful, but it never feels inspired.
Read Full Review
63
Boston Globe Wesley Morris
It's a portrait of the artist as Mary Poppins.
Read Full Review
63
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Washes over you with an enjoyable gloss, and it might even make you cry a little, but it evaporates in memory like fairy dust.
Read Full Review
60
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
It just doesn't have the buoyancy, or the resonance, that this kind of semifactual flight of fancy needs.
Read Full Review
60
Washington Post Teresa Wiltz
You're expected to weep, and perhaps you will weep. But if you do, it's not likely that you'll respect yourself in the morning.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Precious and uninsightful but ends beautifully.
Read Full Review
50
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A sappy excursion to Edwardian days.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Jessica Winter
Depp and Highmore's final scene together strikes a muted blow of desolation -- bottomless but just bearable -- that Forster rather bravely lets stand as the last word on all the fanciful solace that Barrieland had to offer.
Read Full Review
50
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Takes liberties with its hero, which is hardly a crime (the real-life Barrie was extremely childlike), but the movie chases after magic with overproduced fantasy sequences, and a feel-good, literalist climax that betrays the very notion of imagination as a force superior to reality.
50
LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Surprisingly wan film.
Read Full Review
50
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
A handsome-looking film about the writer and his unripe inspirations, the actor Johnny Depp neither soars nor crashes, but moseys forward with vague purpose and actorly restraint.
Read Full Review
40
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Forster's movie doesn't want to grow up, but it doesn't seem to understand childhood, either. For a film about the life-affirming power of imagination, Finding Neverland displays precious little of its own.
Read Full Review
40
Time Richard Corliss
Finding Neverland takes a big, brave leap and lands splat on the sidewalk.
Read Full Review
40
The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Dismal and heavy, and the failure rests chiefly with Johnny Depp, who plays Barrie.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 104 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lara S. gave it a10:
So magical and moving. Can't help but want to hug every character!

Marc R. gave it a10:
I cried!

Sam gave it a10:
After some fun takes on the story of Peter Pan, I've always wondered who the man was that started the epic tale, and if the life of the man was a movie, would it be any good. Ladies and Gentlemen, Finding Neverland has finally ended my craving for that movie, with (in my opinion) 2004's best picture.

Alex gave it a2:
Manipulative tripe.

Crystal P. gave it an8:
I thought it was a beautiful film.

Luis V. gave it a10:
Great movie.

Chel A. gave it a9:
I enjoyed this movie so much that I just finished watching it for the fourth time! You have to really look into every aspect of this film. Maybe even try watching it with the commentary or something. I think my first time seeing it, I didn't catch every small detail of hard work put in, every facial experssion showing great emotion, or every ounce of passion. Now I really do notice. Wow! I thought the casting was especially well-done. I have and always will adore Johnny Depp. He has been consistant with every character he has played. Kate Winslet I think did a fine job. I'm not a huge fan of her but she definitly pulled it off! And I am truely in love with young Freddie who played Peter! I am one of the hugest Freddie fans you'll ever meet. *Laugh* He never hits a wrong note, never too sappy. He brings out the exact emotion of young Peter, so pure and real. He portreys the role without making you think wow, what a brat but instead you just completely understand that he is in great pain and has lost his inner child. The other 3 boys were perfect for their parts as well. I wish Joe Prospero (Jack) Had a few more lines, he's great. At first you think well it could have used some more color and magical feel to it. But really, It was dealing with regaining you inner child so not much of the magic is revealed until it is actually found. I also love the way it shows how writers use the enviroment so much in their work. Barrie would have been nowhere without the inspiration of the Davies. All this talk makes me want to go watch it again! *Laugh* Rent it, buy it, borrow it from a friend-Just SEE IT!!<3

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use