Finding Neverland (2004)
Directed by Marc Forster
During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.
11 connections found
View:
11 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Finding Neverland to
Freddie Highmore, best known as a child actor for roles in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Finding Neverland,” does what he can with the main character of George, a disaffected teenager going to an exclusive prep school.
Partly responsible is a peppy soundtrack that's as cheery-quirky as the film hopes to be, but a large share of the credit has to go to Freddie Highmore ("Finding Neverland," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory").
Writer and director Gavin Wiesen must treasure the irony that this earthbound Peter Pan is played by Freddie Highmore, the young actor from "Finding Neverland."
But he has already wowed as an adorably sincere scene-stealer in "August Rush," "A Good Year" and "The Spiderwick Chronicles," and ably held his own opposite the great Johnny Depp, twice, in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the sublime "Finding Neverland."
Highmore became famous as a child actor in films like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Finding Neverland, but he's thoroughly unprepared for the challenges of an adult leading role.
The only aspect of the movie that sets it apart as truly worthwhile is the talented Freddie Highmore, who has grown up from the kid we enjoyed in "Finding Neverland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
Jared's brainy twin Simon looks identical, no doubt because he is also played by Freddie Highmore, born in 1992, a gifted young actor best known for " Finding Neverland ," " August Rush " and " The Golden Compass ."
They include newly divorced Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker), a relative of the Spiderwicks; her daughter, Mallory (Sarah Bolger); and her 15-year-old twins, Simon and Jared (both played by the dangerously too-adorable but always camera-ready Freddie Highmore, Johnny Depp’s inspiration for Peter Pan in Finding Neverland).
Freddie Highmore, already deservedly praised for his performances in "Finding Neverland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," continues to impress in his dual roles here.
Highmore (Finding Neverland, August Rush) is scary-great.
Still, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" has been executed with competence and good taste by director Mark Waters ("Mean Girls," "Freaky Friday"), who has enlisted a commendably classy cast in the effort: David Strathairn and Joan Plowright, as Arthur and his now-elderly daughter, Lucinda, add a deep touch of pathos to the proceedings, and the young Highmore ("Finding Neverland") does a credible job of delineating his two temperamentally different characters (although he does something very unattractive with his mouth as Jared, an affectation that he will, one hopes, soon retire).
But while the story, adapted by David Magee ("Finding Neverland"), holds one's attention, some of the narrative magic has been lost, largely due to a clunky framing device and a verbal insistence on spiritual meaning which the movie fails to summon emotionally.
Based on a novel by Yann Martel, with a screenplay by David Magee ("Finding Neverland"), this is an inspiring tale of two beings who are so different but cannot survive without the other.
Now, armed with the sort of technology his predecessors could only have dreamed of, celebrated filmmaker Ang Lee pulls off the impossible, adapting Yann Martel's notoriously complex 2001 novel (with Finding Neverland scribe David Magee) into a magical, spiritual tour de force.
His magnificent new film is a version of Yann Martel's Booker prize-winning novel, Life of Pi , adapted by an American writer, David Magee, whose previous credits were films set in England during the first half of the 20th century, Finding Neverland and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day .
Finding Neverland screenwriter David Magee settles on the banal choice of having Rafe Spall play “the Writer,” a blocked novelist having lunch with Irrfan Khan’s mysterious adult Pi, who offers to “tell a story that will make you believe in God.” It’s an awkward setup and almost entirely unnecessary as it leaves the audience with the queasy notion that Spall is only around because they needed to shoehorn a white guy into the movie.
There’s no use pretending that the story has any purpose except to link the chase-ems-and-shoot-ems, but director Marc Forster (previously associated with semi-arty films “Monster’s Ball,” “Finding Neverland”) borrows heavily from the Bourne movies, racing through jagged close-ups that thrust you in the middle, gasping.
Advertisement
And director Marc Forster, whose career reads like a zigzag tour through genres ("Monster's Ball," "Finding Neverland"), finds an agreeable groove, letting the story's essential sweetness shine through.
The director, Marc Forster, became hot property after making “Monster's Ball” and “Finding Neverland” (neither of which bore much relation to his awful “Everything Put Together,” barely seen beyond the Sundance fest in 2000).
Stranger Than Fiction is directed by Marc Forster ( Monster’s Ball , Finding Neverland ) from a script by Zach Helm .
With the success of "Monster's Ball" (2001) and "Finding Neverland" (2004) behind him, director Marc Forster has established himself as a critic's and awards darling, if not necessarily a major cinematic artist.
Director Marc Forster, whose "Finding Neverland" was a more formal exercise in imagination and fantasy mechanics, is working at a metaphysical level here, from a debut screenplay by Zach Helm.
Director Marc Forster has floundered thus far with realism ( Everything Put Together , Monster's Ball ) and flights of fantasy both maudlin ( Finding Neverland ) and baffling ( Stay ), but he shows a nice touch here, even if he's sometimes clumsy or misguided (as with a trick shot of the inside of Ferrell's mouth while brushing his teeth).
Whenever Valerie needs a break from her parents, she goes to visit her grandmother (Oscar-nominated legend Julie Christie from "Away from Her," "Finding Neverland" and "Troy").
Production designer Gemma Jackson ( Finding Neverland , “Game of Thrones”) outdoes herself once again, and while I have no idea how historically accurate Annie Symons’ ( Glorious 39 ) costumes are (I’m guessing not very), that doesn’t make them any less fantastic.
The plot concerns a proverbial special child, Alton, played by Jaeden Lieberher, who despite his badly spelled name is probably the most competent child actor since Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland (or, come to think of it, Tye Sheridan in Mud, though he was a little older).
Advertisement
While Robertson eventually started to grow on me, Raffey Cassidy’s Athena is the real gem of the movie, as much a find as Freddie Highmore was in Finding Neverland, as she gives a suitably charisma-free performance that works for reasons I won’t reveal.
That leaves a rather small viewership, and is probably one of the reasons Neverland has been shelved for so long (it was shot in mid-2002, but needed to distance itself from last yearâs box office dud Peter Pan ).