Product Description

Award winners Johnny Depp (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL), Kate Winslet (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND), Dustin Hoffman, and Julie Christie (TROY, HAMLET) star in this magical tale about one of the world's greatest storytellers and the people who inspired his masterwork "Peter Pan." Well-known playwright James M. Barrie (Depp) finds his career at a crossroads when his latest play flops and doubters question his future. Then by chance he meets a widow (Winslet) and her four adventurous boys. Together they form a friendship that ignites the imagination needed to produce Barrie's greatest work! An enchanting big-screen treat with an acclaimed cast of stars, FINDING NEVERLAND has been hailed as one of the year's best motion pictures!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1733 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-22
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
Sweetness that doesn't turn saccharine is hard to find these days; Finding Neverland hits the mark. Much credit is due to the actors: Johnny Depp applies his genius for sly whimsy in his portrayal of playwright J. M. Barrie, who finds inspiration for his greatest creation from four lively boys, the sons of widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet, who miraculously fuses romantic yearning with common sense). Though the friendship threatens his already dwindling marriage, Barrie spends endless hours with the boys, pretending to be pirates or Indians--and gradually the elements of Peter Pan take shape in his mind. The relationship between Barrie and the Llewelyn Davies family sparks both an imagined world and a quiet rebellion against the stuffy forces of respectability, given physical form by Barrie's resentful wife (Radha Mitchell, High Art) and Sylvia's mother (Julie Christie, McCabe and Mrs. Miller). This gentle silliness could have turned to treacle, but Depp and Winslet--along with newcomer Freddie Highmore as one of the boys--keep their feet on the earth while their eyes gaze into their dreams. Also featuring a comically crusty turn from Dustin Hoffman (who appeared in another Peter Pan-themed movie, Hook) as a long-suffering theater producer. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
Marc Forster, the director who brought us "Monster's Ball," has turned his attention-as one does-from Halle Berry to J. M. Barrie. The diminutive Scottish author is played by Johnny Depp, in a loose fantasia on the genesis of "Peter Pan." Barrie meets some young boys in a London park, and from his friendship with them and their widowed mother (Kate Winslet) he conjures a story of a child who cannot, or will not, grow up. The fact that the film takes liberties with the historical record (there were five brothers, for instance, not four) is a minor affair; more misguided is the reliance on whimsy, at moments where the real Barrie was straightforward, even chilly, in his imaginings. At other times, however, the movie's air of slightness and evanescence feels touching and right, and, if the result strikes you as too weepy for its own good, consider that the actual story of Barrie and his "Lost Boys"-some of whom met untimely deaths-was worse and more troubling by far. With Julie Christie, Dustin Hoffman, and, in the role of a real Peter, the clear and unsentimental Freddie Highmore. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
"'Finding Neverland' is glorious entertainment."

Customer Reviews

Finding Neverland
This is a great romantic drama, with some comedy, set in 1903 where a playwrite is trying to write a successful play. He comes upon a family with a mother and four boys who have been through some trying times and, through their daily interactions, he begins to write the greatest play of his life - Peter Pan - based on the activities of the boys. His main obstacle in the process is to bring young Peter (Freddie Highmore) from an adult's life back to a kid's life and convince him that he can use his imagination and have fun again. This movie does what a movie should do - it gets you wrapped up in the lives of the caracters and puts you right in the middle of the story line. I highly recommend this movie to anyone.

Fantasy vs. Reality: sad, but Fascinating film
Finding Neverland (not Michael's place) is an interesting journey. As always, Johnny Depp is perfect. However this movie is not all fun and games, and refusal to grow up. A sadness lurks in the shadows, and leaves me wanting to watch Hook, again to liven things up.

Great movie, but contains drama as well as humor. You may teer up a bit, though the laughs prevail.

Director Marc Forester and his genius work about childhood
If you recently saw the brilliant,now in theatres,The Kite Runner,you were treated to another Marc Forester directed gem that intimately explores the hopes,dreams,longings and sadness of young boys who have been faced with early on tragedy.Well turn back the clock three years and Forester was exploring the identical themes through FINDING NEVERLAND, a semi-factual look at John Barrie, the author of "Peter Pan" and the influential woman and children that were the muses for his famous book on never growing up.Forester, in his very young career, has also triumphed with his Stranger Than Fiction where a "boyish" Will Ferrell keeps hearing an author's voices in his head.Forester's style in his films is gentle,whimsical and playful,and FINDING NEVERLAND never becomes Splenda sweet.The film, though involving the magical world of Peter Pan as dreamed up by Barrie (Johnny Depp in ANOTHER Oscar nommed role...when will he win??!!) is fraught with real life drama and tragedy concerning the loss of parents and the disintegration of marriage.These elements serve to make the viewer long for the world where we "never grow old", and Forester knows how to get his viewers there.With supporting roles by Kate Winslet and the recently Oscar nommed Julie Christie (Away From Her [Special Edition],this film highlights the younger Freddie Highmore,as the young Peter, who has had quite a year with August Rush, The Golden Compass (Widescreen Edition) and The Spiderwick Chronicles [Theatrical Release].Turn back the clock.Stop being an adult and revisit a film that charmed us all in 2004 and was nominated as BEST PICTURE.