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'Neverland' will be a good bet come Oscar night
By Nick Robbins
December 14, 2004 | Maybe I did start
out in a theater filled with teenage girls ogling to
get a peek of the Sexiest Man Alive, Johnny Depp, but
by the end of Finding Neverland, we were all
like kids again, believing in fairies and hoping our
happy thoughts would give us flight.
Director Marc Forster, Monster's Ball, brings
the childlike world of Barrie to life in his movie staring
Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. Finding Neverland
is a magical peek inside the mind of Peter Pan
author J.M. Barrie, played by Depp. Barrie finds refuge
from his crumbling marriage in the company of the Llewelyn-Davies
family, a widow, Sylvia, played by Winslet, and her
four boys. With a string of unsuccessful plays under
his belt, Barrie is inspired to write his now famous
play Peter Pan by the Llewelyn-Davies boys' imaginative
adventures and their hurry, and yet sometimes unwillingness,
to grow up. Barrie seems to help ease the family's pain
from the untimely death of their father by bringing
imagination back into the family's life.
Depp, just of an Oscar nomination for his portrayal
of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean
goes from swash-buckling pirate to sensitive and troubled
author in Neverland, and can most likely expect
another call from the Academy.
In her first film since playing medical experiment
patient Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind, Kate Winslet takes on a time
period, but not a character conducive of her previous
work. The character Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies, a 30-something
mother of four, helps transform Winslet from roles as
a young girl or ingénue to leading lady. Rumors about
another Oscar nod for Winslet are already being spread.
Winslet was previously nominated for her work in Sense
and Sensibility, Titanic, and Iris.
Not to be outdone in the company of these two heavyweight
actors, 12-year-old Freddie Highmore holds his own in
his first major role as Winslet's youngest son Peter.
In fact, Depp was so impressed with Highmore's performance,
he offered him the role of Charlie Bucket in Tim Burton's
re-make of Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory starring Depp as Willie Wonka.
Already namedBest Picture of 2004 by the US National
Board of Review, which has a history of predicting Academy
Award winners, Neverland is being placed as a
front-runner for Oscar night.
Finding Neverland is unlike other biopics.
It focuses the story from the inside out, grounding
itself on the fact that in essence we are all children
at heart.
NW
MS
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