Say what you will about Johnny Depp?s eclectic roles, his abandonment of Hollywood life for the well-steeped streets of Paris or his distinct fashion sense, but one thing is certain: he?s on a hot streak. Since Pirates of the Caribbean (read DailyGame?s review), Depp has ridden a wave of good fortune, the most recent being his outstanding performance as James M. Barrie in Finding Neverland.
Barrie, as you may recall, is the author of the children?s classic Peter Pan. Hollywood has had its fair share of Pan productions, including Hook, which, like Finding Neverland, stars Dustin Hoffman. Yet rather than go the Hollywood route, Finding Neverland has been ?Depp-ified?; it has found a unique way to deliver the core of the Pan story through the somewhat biographical eyes of its author.
In the role of Barrie, Depp delivers a performance as magical as Neverland itself, exploring a variety of emotions and imaginations as he finds his own real-life Neverland in a widow and her four children. During the course of the film, Depp is inspired by his adventures with the children and creates the tale of Peter Pan based on their whimsy and unconscious desire to, you guessed it, never grow up.
Although the movie has a sad ending, it is only sad because of the circumstances surrounding Depp?s discovery of his own Neverland, and the process by which he helps the children?s mother, played by Kate Winslet, find hers. The result is a film that?s part Big Fish, part Amadeus, but 100 percent incredible.
Given the DVD release, it?s a good thing the film is so outstanding, because the bonus features don?t provide that much of a true bonus. The audio and visual integrity of the DVD is top-notch, and with a film that transitions between real-life and imaginary sequences as seamlessly as Finding Neverland, the integrity of those two elements on the DVD release is key. But the other elements, the cast and crew interviews, deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes videos of the various worldwide premieres, are surprisingly lackluster. A special-effects featurette or a biography of James M. Barrie would have helped bring the DVD as much vibrancy as the film itself has. Instead, the bonus features, none of which is particularly lengthy, fall somewhat flat.
In spite of this, if you?ve yet to discover why this Finding Neverland was nominated for Academy Awards and won Best Picture of the Year from the National Board of Review, the film?s release on DVD is precisely the opportunity you?ve been waiting for. If you liked the unique special effects and character development in Big Fish and can appreciate the subtleties of a true love in its most benign form, Finding Neverland is one DVD you won?t want to miss.