Review by Anne Garber

This wonderful Johnny Depp vehicle is bound and determined to put an end to the questions and controversy surrounding the life of James M. Barrie and his relationship with the family that inspired his stage play, Peter Pan. And the film answers the scandalous suggestions about Barrie's compulsion to involve himself with the Davies family, mouthed by Peter Davies himself. When the boy is pointed out as the "Peter" of the play, he says defiantly: "I'm not Peter Pan," indicating Barrie, "He is!" This is the whole point of this movie, and, it seems, of Barrie's life and aspirations: The boy who was forced to grow up wished to reclaim his own lost boyhood through adventures and play-dates with the young boys he had befriended. In effect, Barrie would retreat to Neverland and become the boy who never grew up.

Director Marc Forster's follow-up to Monster's Ball is Finding Neverland, a tale of magic and fantasy inspired by the life of James Barrie, the real-life author of the children's classic Peter Pan. Set in London in 1904, the film follows Barrie's creative journey to bring Peter Pan to life, from his first inspiration for the story up until the play's premiere at the Duke of York's Theatre -- a night that will change not only Barrie's own life, but the lives of everyone close to him.

A still from 2003's Peter Pan movie

A great wave of controversy surrounded the release of last year's production of Peter Pan a year ago in the U.K. -- According to news reports at the time: The god-daughter of Peter Pan creator James M. Barrie has castigated the Walt Disney Co. for its production of a new 'adult' version of the children's classic in England, which was directed by P.J. Hogan (Muriel's Wedding, My Best Friend's Wedding) starring Jason Isaacs in the dual role of Captain Hook and Mr. Darling.

Laura Duguid, whose father was adopted by Barrie, told the London Telegraph: "It is a shame the play is being treated in this way. My father and Mr. Barrie would have been horrified. Mr. Barrie just was not interested in that sort of obvious sexuality and romance, and it certainly is not in the original story." To read my review of that film, click here.

A still from 2003's Peter Pan movie

(If you want to re-read the book online, click here for a complete version, free).

The play of Peter Pan was written in 1904, at the height of Edwardian prudery. And like all works from periods of severe repression, it is teeming with unspoken passions of every sort.

The controversy over the "sexing up" of the Peter Pan film embarrassed Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, which was given the literary rights to Peter Pan by Barrie in 1929, and which stood to receive a share of the profits from the production. However, it has other problems, as it is currently in a dispute with Disney over royalties from its version of the story.