Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a look at a film that I'm really looking forward to, FINDING NEVERLAND, from the first screening of the completed film. I love me my Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet and Dustin Hoffman... and my Peter Pan for that matter. This all sounds like a really interesting mix of many of my particular tastes and from the looks of the review below it comes out pretty terrifically. Anyway, on with the review... second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!!!
Hi Harry,
Last night, I had the opportunity to be one of the first people to see the long awaited and sitting on the shelf collecting dust "Finding Neverland" with Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet and Dustin Hoffman. This showing was in Seattle, on Sunday night, in a very small theater near the University of Washington. Another bonus of seeing the movie early was an afterwards Q & A with the director Marc Foster ("Moster's Ball"). He gave us some insight into the movie making process and the reason that this movie has been sitting on the shelf for about 2 years.
First a quick look at this movie. The print that we saw was the completed version. The director informed us after that, to his knowledge, we were the first audience to see the completed version. This is the version that will be released on Thanksgiving Day.
Johnny Depp stars as author/playwright J.M. Barrie. The movie begins a bit before he has written his biggest hit "Peter Pan." It actually begins with him nervously backstage at the premiere of one of his lesser known flops. Johnny Depp again seamlessly makes this person his own unique character and plays the part with a Scottish accent that is never distracting (i.e. not Sean Conneryish).
After his latest play flops, Barrie goes back to the drawing boards. One day he is in the park playing with his dog Porthos when he meets a family. The family consists of a woman, Sylvia Davie, and her four children. Sylvia is played by Kate Winslet. Sylvia is a widow and has come the park to let the children play. One of the children, Peter, is playing under Barrie's park bench pretending to be locked in a dungeon when they first meet. Depp entertains Kate and family with the notion that his dog, Porthos, is really a bear. This scene is interestingly intercut (and is the first of many scenes) where the "pretend world" of Barrie's imagination is played for real on screen. This method is used in later scenes where Barrie plays cowboys and indians and (believe it or not) a pirate. The visuals (especially the "water" in the pirate ship scenes) are very unique and have an old fashioned theatrical play feel to them. In the Q & A afterwards, the di! rector explained that he wanted the special effects to look unique. He didn't want "Perfect Storm" waves hitting the pirate ship. He wanted them to be battered by waves that you would see in a play on stage. When the pirate ship is attacked by a shark, he didn't want a realistic shark, he wanted a mechanical feel to the shark, as if it were made for a stage play. It's a very unique look, and I really liked it.
Anyway, after this initial meeting with the kids, Barrie starts spending more and more time with them. Too much time with them according to Davies mother and Barrie's wife. Shades of Michael Jackson's Neverland. Little do they know that during this playtime, Barrie is piecing together ideas for what would become his greatest play. Scenes of children jumping on beds inspire the idea of flying. Seeing the children yelled at by their grandmother who is holding a hanger "hook side out" facing towards them inspires Captain Hook. A kite tail becomes the basis of another scene in the play. Even the children's names, Peter, George, Michael, etc. are inspiration. If you are as familiar with the play version as I am, you'll have many "aha" moments even before the director spells them out for you later on when scenes from the play are presented near the end.
The movie never explicitely shows Barrie falling in love with Davies, but it's suspected by the grandmother, Barrie's wife (who leaves him for another man) and most anyone else who knows Barrie.
Towards the end, the movie becomes a four hanky movie, as the children steal the show, (especially the boy who played Peter who just makes you cry watching him cry). I don't want to give away anymore since this movie does not come out for another three months, but it is a sure bet that this is the movie that Miramax will be pushing for their annual Oscar Campaign.
About the other major players in the cast. I was a bit wary about Dustin Hoffman in this because of his past association with the material. He does not play Hook, or anyone that inspires Barrie. Hoffman plays Barrie's investor. He pays Barrie's bills. It's a small role and Dustin does a great job with his sarcastic humor (which according to the director was revised and rewritten by Dustin himself in Dustin's kitchen over a period of 6 weekends).
Julie Christie plays Davie's mother. She plays the role as a villian of sorts. She seems to be the only nemisis that Barrie has. The audience hates her and her disapproval of Barrie's relationship with Davie's and her children. There is a scene near the end where she does lighten up a bit and gets back on the audience's "good side." The scene is sure to bring a smile to the audience, as it did ours.
Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. The performances were excellent, and I was swept away by the visual styling and storytelling. When the movie was over and the ongoing applause died down, I truly felt that this could be a contender for best picture. When I first saw the preview, I thought this was going to be Merchant/Ivory crap, but it's very engaging. The only lull in the movie was about 1/2 way through when one of the reels failed to play properly. That was fixed quickly.
The Q & A afterwards was interesting. The director, Marc Foster, laughed at the notion of what the producers were thinking when they picked him to direct the movie. "Monster's Ball" wasn't exactly a family friendly feature. He told us stories about working with Dustin Hoffman. He pointed out one scene where Dustin played the scene with his hand in his jacket. Apparently the night before filming, he cut off part of his finger in a "chair accident." The finger tip was sewn back on, but he was required to keep his fingers above his heart. He also told us how they did many, many takes because of how the morphine effected his memory of lines.
Another audience member tried getting Johnny Depp's cell phone number from Foster, but failed much to the dismay of the audience.
I'll wrap this up by giving "Finding Neverland" (not to be comfused with Nemo) a big thumbs up. It was free for me to see, but I would have gladly forked over the 10 bucks or so to see it.
Thanks,
Teechur
