“Finding Neverland” is yet another movie from my wishlist. I have even rented it once before, but didn’t have time to watch it. Today I managed to do so and I am very glad I did. This film truly deserves to be seen.
IMDB rating: 8.1
My rating: 10
Celebrity highlights: Johnny Depp plays the leading role. He is assisted by Kate Winslet, Radha Mitchell, and Julie Christie. Dustin Hoffman also appears in few scenes.
This film is supposedly based on true events, but I won’t be a judge of that. Even if not so, it is an amazing story perfectly told. The story is about how “Peter Pan” fairy tail was created. A very sad story indeed. I am not a big fan of “Peter Pan” but I have seen a few movies and annimations based on the book. I have to tell that this film is the best movie around “Peter Pan” that I have seen so far. And it will probably remain for some time.
Everything about this film is perfect – interesting and original story, excellent acting, great photography, outstanding camera work, very nice computer effects, and nice music. In fact, it is so good that it doesn’t feel like a movie anymore. It edges with the real drama theatre experience.
Separately I’d like to say a couple of words about camera work. It felt like cameraman was doing a movie of his own. Or a research project. There were some camera positions in this film that I haven’t seen before anywhere. Camera was adding a lot to atmosphere and to the pace of the film. Two particular scenes that I remember I liked a lot were when Depp was sitting in the park on the bench with large tree on the background and camera was somewhere near bench’s base; and when Depp again (well, he did most of the acting in this move anyway) was running up the stairways in the house and camera was following his feet just outside of the ladder case. These two were very refreshing.
There is also something that I haven’t mentioned yet – decorations, setup and details. Many films that try to picture old times (1903, London) fail to do so due to a lack of attention to details. In this film I didn’t notice anything out of line (it doesn’t mean there weren’t anything though). In fact, on the contrary, few things surprised me and gave me some food for thought.
Anyway, I can spend much more time describing how nice this film is and how much I liked it. I suggest that instead you go out and rent it. It’s worth the time and trouble. I promise.