FINDING NEVERLAND

I was browsing through last-weeks posts and all the mention of Peter Pan and Johnnie Depp put me in mind of another little gem. It is yet another true story, not a very well known story yet a story well worth knowing… It is the true life story of J.M. Barrie, the writer of the novel Peter Pan and the events that inspired the creation of the classic we all know and love today…

Scottish playwright James Barrie (Johnnie Depp * SIGH…* ) has just suffered a dismal failure with his latest play. He is also lacking terribly in inspiration, a condition fed by the depression brought on by his failure… Inspiration comes to him in the surprising form of beautiful and fragile widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her four young sons. Barrie turns out to be an excellent playmate and father figure to the boys. He becomes especially close to Peter, one of the younger boys (acted by child prodigy Freddy Highmore). Peter is troubled, misses his father, has an extraordinary imagination and does not want to grow up… Despite criticism from Sylvia’s mother (the multi-award winning Julie Christie) and Mary, Barrie’s wife (acted by Radha Michelle - hmm, I never knew I was such a fan of hers, I seem to write about one of her works every week!!) Barrie spends more and more time with the family. It will inspire him to write his greatest work ever. If he can only convince the producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman) it’s a viable business venture that is…

First of all, with such a stellar cast, the film can only be so bad if you see what I mean =) But in fact, director Marc Foster is not to be sneezed at either; his works you may have heard of include Monsters Ball, Stranger than Fiction, The Kite Runner and Quantum Of Solace… This is most definitely a successful work: the film was nominated for a total of 7 Oscars ® including heavyweights such as Best Motion Picture, Best Leading Actor (Johnnie Depp - *SIGH*) and Best Writing. (Ok, so in the end it only won Best Achievement in Music but the other fields were actually worth a mention!!) The film also trails a very long list of nominations for prestigious awards such as Golden Globes and BAFTA’s, so I feel that even those of us who in later years have begun to shy away from mainstream cinema should feel confident to “dip a toe in” so to speak. I mean, come on guys, so many juries, they can’t all be wrong /stupid / corrupt!

And besides, even if you are completely anti mainstream, didn’t you read Peter Pan (or even better, have it read to you, like I did) when you were younger and love it? (And if you didn’t read / have it read to you I am genuinely sorry about that. If you did and didn’t like it, well, chances are you’re reading the wrong blog mate… really…) Ehm, so you did love it, right? Aren’t you just the teensiest bit curious as to what the real Peter Pan was like? I am really sorry to disappoint you guys but he did actually grow up – here’s his Wikipedia page. I always find the real stories behind these great works fascinating (same with the extraordinary life story of Lewis Carrol and his creation of Alice in Wonderland for instance). Maybe it’s this fact that endears the film so much to me. It is still a beautiful, touching film.

HOOK

Are you one of those people who will “never grow up”? I most definitely am. Animations are one thing – they attract a different kind of crowd all together, but there are some children’s films that absolutely HAVE to be watched – and not necessarily when one is young either. Especially the great classics like Cinderella (I mean they even did a grown-up version of that with Drew Barrymore – remember “Ever After?”) or, in this instance Peter Pan. Now, Hook (THE FILM!) is NOT a “grown-up version of” Peter Pan. It’s a children’s film in all its glory but Dear God, what a children’s film… If you are like me determined to “never grow up” chances are you have already watched Hook numerous times. But then again maybe you missed it somehow. Maybe you were too old or too young… You definitely MUST catch up with it…

Well, Hook is not so much the classic story of Peter Pan, more the story of what happened after the story ends. As you recall, Wendy returns home, and Peter continues his life in Never Land, visiting her every year. But then, one year, there is a stranger lying in Wendy’s bed. It’s her daughter; she is just Peter’s age and really beautiful. Peter loves her at first sight and decides never to return to Never Land again… But now settled in the real world, reality takes a hold of him – he marries Wendy’s daughter Moira, gets a job, has two lovely children – a boy and a girl and… Completely forgets about Never Land… As far as he’s concerned he is an orphan found and raised by Grandma Wendy (the delightful Maggie Smith). He is a complete adult and he neither believes in magic or fairies… (he is superbly acted, incidentally by Robin Williams, an actor I greatly enjoyed “in his prime” but has now in my view almost completely slid off the radar…). Well, he may have forgotten about Never Land, but Never Land most definitely has NOT forgotten about him. Not least his dastardly rival Captain Hook. (And after watching Dustin Hoffmann’s stellar representation of Captain Hook, I have been unable to envision the pirate captain in any other way. I’m talking true pirates here people – I’m as big a fan of Johnny Depp as the next person (possibly bigger in fact) but Mr. Hoffmann says it all. Yes, ALL.) Seeing that Peter will not be back any time soon, the Captain ventures into the Real World, and sees what has happened. Being the most dastardly pirate that sailed the seven seas, he hatches a cunning plan to either force Peter to return to Never Land or hurt him beyond belief. He abducts his two children, aiming to turn them into pirates and turn them against there father, thus making him, Hook, invincible. Luckily Peter’s oldest ally and friend Tinkerbell (wait for it… Julia Roberts. Can you believe this cast??) is on hand to take Peter back (by force) to Never Land, much to the joy of the Lost Boys. Now all they must do is somehow remind Peter how to fight, fly, crow, use his imagination and live by the rules of Never Land, for this is the only way to defeat Hook. However, is Peter too far gone to be saved?...

I honestly cannot remember how many times I have watched Hook. It is such an absolutely wonderful story, acted out by absolutely superb actors. And the stars don’t finish there – Bob Hoskins is Smee, Captain Hook’s right hand man (no pun intended hehe) only I couldn’t insert him into the synopsis =). Don’t expect any Avatar type action – this was filmed in 1991 but go by Peter’s rules – use your imagination and you will begin to “see” the whole thing. And since it is not a “remake” of the story it will not spoil it for the little ones either, on the contrary, it’s what happens next, how the story really ends and that might be a life saver for some parents out there (I was very much a “what happened next” type child). This is a WONDERFULL story, an absolute classic and EVERYONE needs a bit of escapism from time to time… Come on, don’t be shy…