I have no idea why this one was in my queue. Possibly someone recommended it to me? It could have just as easily been my love for Johnny Depp rendering me temporarily insane. He has a Scottish accent here. Mmmm.J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) is a struggling playwright with a social climbing wife (Radha Mitchell) who is constantly bitter that he spends more time on his writing than with her. Things get worse when Barrie becomes acquainted with a young widow (Kate Winslet) and her four sons, George (Nick Roud), Jack (Joe Prospero), Peter (Freddie Highmore), and Michael (Luke Spill). Over the course of helping the children deal with the grief of their father's death, Barrie comes up with the idea of Peter Pan. His producer (Dustin Hoffman) thinks it will flop, and the widow's mother (Julie Christie) thinks Barrie is a bad influence.
There's a huge theme of children having to grow up too quickly and deal with adult problems, as can be expected, and also the healing power of imagination. It's well-acted and the fantasy sequences are well-shot and integrate nicely. I can recognize that it's a good movie, even if it's not the type of movie that generally interests me (character dramas, blech). I do kind of feel that poor Jack got screwed. George and Michael get main roles in the play and Peter gets the lead but Jack at best gets to be a low-level pirate and at worst, gets a sex change to be Wendy. I know it sucks to be the middle child, but damn.
It won an Oscar for Best Original Score in 2005. I only noticed the music during the production of Peter Pan so I can't really say if it deserved it.
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