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Finding Neverland

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 105 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
David Magee
Allan Knee (play The Man Who Was Peter Pan)
Directed by: Marc Forster
Release Date:
Theatrical: November 12, 2004
DVD: March 22, 2005
Running Time: 106 minutes, Color
Origin: UK / USA
Summary
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Everything Put Together Monster's Ball Stay Stranger Than Fiction The Kite Runner
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
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 >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 >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 >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The glory of the movie is Depp, who achieves his own immortality.
Read Full Review >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 >The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett
A rewarding piece of filmmaking that has all the makings of a classic weepie.
Read Full Review >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 >Newsweek David Ansen
Mingling reality and fantasy, Forster has given us a luminous, touching meditation on life and art.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Gently seductive, genuinely tender and often moving without being maudlin.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Depp is a charm. He becomes his own, subtly compelling Barrie.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >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 >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Forster keeps the picture as a whole in perfect tune with Depp's approach.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >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 >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
Handsome, professional and dutiful, but it never feels inspired.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Precious and uninsightful but ends beautifully.
Read Full Review >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 >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.
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 >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 >Time Richard Corliss
Finding Neverland takes a big, brave leap and lands splat on the sidewalk.
Read Full Review >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
The average user rating for this movie is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 105 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
