Finding Neverland
Miramax Films | Release Date: November 12, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
11
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
New York PostLou Lumenick
Pure magic. Read full review
100
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Depp and Winslet in particular are, as you might expect, immaculate. I don't think there's another actor alive who can convey the intermingling of gentleness and passion with as much precision as Depp. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
It's a real pleasure to find a movie as calm, measured and dead-on in its impact as Finding Neverland. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Glorious entertainment. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's an intellectual family film for literate parents and children, immensely pleasing if not perfect, perhaps a smidgen too brightly evasive and determinedly charming. Read full review
88
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The glory of the movie is Depp, who achieves his own immortality. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Surprisingly moving. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Johnny Depp has finally won me over to rabid support after "Neverland" and "Pirates of the Caribbean." He gives the most controlled, least mannered performance of his career, staying sweet and rueful while suggesting unseen emotional depths. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Mingling reality and fantasy, Forster has given us a luminous, touching meditation on life and art. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterRay Bennett
A rewarding piece of filmmaking that has all the makings of a classic weepie. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author J.M. Barrie came to write "Peter Pan." Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Gently seductive, genuinely tender and often moving without being maudlin. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Depp is a charm. He becomes his own, subtly compelling Barrie. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve Davis
Takes you back to a time in which people – children, in particular – still created whole worlds in their heads, inventing characters and situations as far away as their flights of fancy would take them. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Depp portrays a fellow who is openly gentle to the core, and the actor just about wraps the movie around his lilting delivery and quiescent gaze. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Compelling and life-affirming. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Forster keeps the picture as a whole in perfect tune with Depp's approach. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The story is told gently and simply without excess sentimentality. It is a welcome departure from more contrived holiday fare. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Delightful and moving - although fanciful. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Because it's a well-crafted and superbly acted sweet little tearjerker, we're content too -- it's a mild pleasure to watch. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderMeredith Brody
The plays and amusements the boys put on--by far the most successfully magical scenes in the movie--inspire Barrie to create his great work, "Peter Pan." Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The film rests on Depp's evocation of Barrie's gentle, playfulness and deeply buried sorrows; it's difficult to imagine another actor so gracefully evoking Barrie's childlike qualities without seeming creepy or emotionally malformed, and only the hard of heart will come away dry-eyed. Read full review
70
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
A worthwhile way to spend some of your precious leisure time, especially in this season of obnoxious cartoons and ham-handed holiday fare. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverGregory Weinkauf
We have a whole new reason to appreciate cinema's most creative chameleon (Depp) since Peter Sellers. The film itself is pretty and sweet but a tad soggy. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Handsome, professional and dutiful, but it never feels inspired. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Washes over you with an enjoyable gloss, and it might even make you cry a little, but it evaporates in memory like fairy dust. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It's a portrait of the artist as Mary Poppins. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
It just doesn't have the buoyancy, or the resonance, that this kind of semifactual flight of fancy needs. Read full review
60
Washington PostTeresa Wiltz
You're expected to weep, and perhaps you will weep. But if you do, it's not likely that you'll respect yourself in the morning. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJessica Winter
Depp and Highmore's final scene together strikes a muted blow of desolation -- bottomless but just bearable -- that Forster rather bravely lets stand as the last word on all the fanciful solace that Barrieland had to offer. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Surprisingly wan film. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A handsome-looking film about the writer and his unripe inspirations, the actor Johnny Depp neither soars nor crashes, but moseys forward with vague purpose and actorly restraint. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Takes liberties with its hero, which is hardly a crime (the real-life Barrie was extremely childlike), but the movie chases after magic with overproduced fantasy sequences, and a feel-good, literalist climax that betrays the very notion of imagination as a force superior to reality.
50
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A sappy excursion to Edwardian days. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Precious and uninsightful but ends beautifully. Read full review
40
TimeRichard Corliss
Finding Neverland takes a big, brave leap and lands splat on the sidewalk. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Forster's movie doesn't want to grow up, but it doesn't seem to understand childhood, either. For a film about the life-affirming power of imagination, Finding Neverland displays precious little of its own. Read full review
40
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Dismal and heavy, and the failure rests chiefly with Johnny Depp, who plays Barrie. Read full review
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