Finding Neverland

"Do you know who that is?" asked Dave.

"No," said Bian.

"No," repeated Jean, "Who?"

Dave paused before answering. He paused for two reasons. Firstly, he enjoyed the fact that they didn't know. He wanted to give them a few more moments to try and figure it out, certain they wouldn't. It was part of the game.

Secondly, and more importantly, he wanted to give himself a few more moments to make 100% sure he wasn't about to make a fool out of himself and give the wrong answer.

"It's Captain Jack Sparrow."

Johnny Depp. One of the greatest cameleons the world had ever seen. He seemed different, physically different, in every film. Only his eyes gave him away. Boy, did that guy have eyes.

On this occassion he played Sir James Matthew Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, in the story of the events which inspired the adventures in Neverland.

The film is beautifully done. The acting is superb, the balance between humour and emotion is just right and the special effects don't try to dominate the story (a trait which becomes increasingly less common). More than this, the story line itself, although based on actual events, tries to capture the essence that made Peter Pan originally great, the inocence of a child who never grows up. One could just as easily, using the same real life events, have told a tale of adultry and hatred, but it would have been wrong to do so.

James, a play writer, stumbles across a family of four boys quite by chance while they're out playing. He quickly befriends them and their widowed mother and together they have many days of games and laughter. He helps the boys, especially Peter, come to terms with the loss of their father, whilst inspiring himself in to write his best ever work. Peter in turn finds the desire to put pen to paper and begins his own story. The movie captures perfectly the pride of a parent for her child and the joy of a child in seeing that pride.

Neverland was a place filled with faeries and magic, a place of imagination and inspiration, a place where dreams really do come true.

Finding Neverland, as the title suggests, is a film that points you in the direction of how to get there.