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Finding Neverland
Metascore
67 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
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  1. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    100
    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.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    100
    Pure magic.
  3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    91
    It's a real pleasure to find a movie as calm, measured and dead-on in its impact as Finding Neverland.
  4. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    88
    Glorious entertainment.
  5. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Surprisingly moving.
  6. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Wilmington
    88
    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.
  7. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    88
    The glory of the movie is Depp, who achieves his own immortality.
  8. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    88
    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.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Ray Bennett
    80
    A rewarding piece of filmmaking that has all the makings of a classic weepie.
  10. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    80
    Gently seductive, genuinely tender and often moving without being maudlin.
  11. Newsweek
    Reviewed by: David Ansen
    80
    Mingling reality and fantasy, Forster has given us a luminous, touching meditation on life and art.
  12. Variety
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    80
    An impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author J.M. Barrie came to write "Peter Pan."
  13. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    80
    Depp is a charm. He becomes his own, subtly compelling Barrie.
  14. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Steve Davis
    78
    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.
  15. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    75
    Forster keeps the picture as a whole in perfect tune with Depp's approach.
  16. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jami Bernard
    75
    Delightful and moving - although fanciful.
  17. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    75
    The story is told gently and simply without excess sentimentality. It is a welcome departure from more contrived holiday fare.
  18. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    75
    Compelling and life-affirming.
  19. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    75
    Because it's a well-crafted and superbly acted sweet little tearjerker, we're content too -- it's a mild pleasure to watch.
  20. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    75
    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.
  21. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    70
    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.
  22. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Pete Vonder Haar
    70
    A worthwhile way to spend some of your precious leisure time, especially in this season of obnoxious cartoons and ham-handed holiday fare.
  23. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Gregory Weinkauf
    70
    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.
  24. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Meredith Brody
    70
    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."
  25. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Shawn Levy
    67
    Handsome, professional and dutiful, but it never feels inspired.
  26. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    63
    Washes over you with an enjoyable gloss, and it might even make you cry a little, but it evaporates in memory like fairy dust.
  27. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    63
    It's a portrait of the artist as Mary Poppins.
  28. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    60
    It just doesn't have the buoyancy, or the resonance, that this kind of semifactual flight of fancy needs.
  29. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Teresa Wiltz
    60
    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.
  30. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Steven Rea
    50
    A sappy excursion to Edwardian days.
  31. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    Precious and uninsightful but ends beautifully.
  32. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    50
    Surprisingly wan film.
  33. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jessica Winter
    50
    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.
  34. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    50
    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.
  35. Wall Street Journal
    Reviewed by: Joe Morgenstern
    50
    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.
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  36. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    40
    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.
  37. Time
    Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    40
    Finding Neverland takes a big, brave leap and lands splat on the sidewalk.
  38. The New Republic
    Reviewed by: Stanley Kauffmann
    40
    Dismal and heavy, and the failure rests chiefly with Johnny Depp, who plays Barrie.
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User Reviews

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User Score
8.3 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 128 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 74 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 82
  3. Negative: 5 out of 82
  1. LaraS.
    10
    So magical and moving. Can't help but want to hug every character!
  2. MarcR.
    10
    I cried!
  3. Sam
    10
    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.… Full Review »
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