"; if(is_file("header.php")) include "header.php"; else include "../header.php"; ?>

Best Ensemble of 2004 When they were handicapping the Oscars this year "Finding Neverland" took up the rear. In my book I ranked Marc Forster's film a shade behind "The Aviator" as the best film of the year. This is an amazing film that demands our emotional involvement and earns it. Johnny Depp is terrific as J.M. Barrie, a blocked playwright who finds inspiration through his relationship with a widow and her four boys. In an understated way Depp manages to convey the inner workings of a man who learns to unloose his imagination and in the process create a work of lasting impact. Kate Winslet is effervescent as Sylvia, a woman who is learning to enjoy life after great tragedy. Radha Mitchell as Barrie's wife, Mary, gives dimension and empathy to a character that in lesser hands would have been villified. The impression you are left with is that it is just as much the fault of James than Mary for the dissolution of their marriage. Julie Christie also creates a full bodied character in the role of Sylvia's mother. In lesser hands she could appear shrewish but Christie manages to convey that her character's stern demeanor is born from concern for her daughter and grandchildren's well-being and not some unbased malevolence. The actors playing Sylvia's children are all excellent but special mention should go to Freddie Highsmore as Peter. Of all the children in the film his character evolves the most psychologically and Highsmore gives a performance of great depth. Ironically, you almost forget the prescence here of Dustin Hoffman as Barrie's producer. Hoffman is good but this is not a particularly demanding part for him.