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Finding Neverland
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Razzak/Roger Nicholl (2nd April 2007). |
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The Film
 "Finding Neverland" is about the period in James Barrie's (Johnny Depp) life when he wrote the play "Peter Pan". It details his relationship with the widower Sylvia Llwewlyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her four sons, Peter (Freddie Highmore), Jack (Joe Prospero), George (Nick Roud) and Michael (Luke Spill) and the inspiration it gives him. It also covers his own marriage break-up and not always successful playwriting career. It's a story about finding the balance between imagination and reality, and how imagination can, at times, be a way to hide from the world. James meets the Llwewlyn Davies family one afternoon while writing in the park. One of them is hiding under his bench as a prisoner in a game with his brothers. James joins in and meets Sylvia. Slowly he's drawn to her and the boys and starts spending more and more time with them. Having no children of his own, he spends hours playing Cowboys and Indians, and Pirates with them. Through these games he starts developing ideas that would become "Peter Pan". What Sylvia really wants is to shield her boys from more harm after her husband's death, something that James seems to provide. This desire to be divorced from reality means she pays little attention to the gossip surrounding them, and is determined to play down a serious illness of her own. When her mother, Emma du Maurier (Julie Christie), steps in to bring control to the household, James finds himself an unwelcome guest. Almost necessarily, James Barrie's wife Mary (Radha Mitchell) is the opposite of Sylvia, cold, unimaginative, and only interested in social climbing. It's no surprise that the two of them don't get along. It was a surprise that the film dragged their marriage on for so long. There was no point where they seemed to like each other, so the numerous scenes of them discussing their marital problems seemed like padding. This wasn't a marriage disintegrating despite the husband and wife's best efforts to keep it alive; it was a cadaver from the first frame of the film. Some of the dialogue was of a type that is getting depressingly familiar. Usually they came in dramatic scenes, often heart-to-heart talks. There's a lot in here that are established clichés, despite no one being keen on them in the first place. There are some scenes that soar. But too often there are scenes that are set-up well, in terms of character's development and motivation that just dies because of flat dialogue. While in certain scenes "Finding Neverland" is quite moving, in others it felt slightly manipulative. This isn't the masterpiece that some people are claiming; it's a competent, unsurprising drama that tries to elicit tears from the audience a few too many times. I have trouble felling any enthusiasm for this movie. I was there, it screened, it's over. Next.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 this high-definition transfer is presented in 1080p 24 fps, and was created using MPRG-2 compression. I was a little disappointed with this transfer; it does not appear to have been made to the same standard as previous Buena Vista releases. The overall image is not consistent in sharpness; while some scenes are crisp others are grainy especially scenes that take place in lower light. Detail is nicely displayed and colors are vivid but appear oversaturated at times, especially reds. I did notice that skin tones at times appear on the orange side. While better than its DVD counterpart I was not impressed with this transfer, there are far better high-definition examples out there.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included, an English uncompressed PCM 5.1 track at 48kHz / 24-bits as well as tracks in English and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. I chose to view the film with its English PCM track for the purposes of this review; unlike the image I was impressed with the sound but it still could have been better. The Fantasy sequences are were this track shines, and makes use of the surround space incredibly well displaying a dynamic range that includes ambient sounds and aggressive displays. The film's score envelopes the viewer into the world of J.M. Barrie and adds depth to the track. The real let down is the unimpressive treatment of the reality scenes, they appear front heavy and lack depth that the fantasy sequences possess. Optional subtitles are also included on this disc in English for the hearing impaired, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Korean.
Extras
Buena Vista has ported over the DVD extras for this Blu-ray release, these include an audio commentary, a series of 3 featurettes, deleted scenes and some bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. audio commentary by director Marc Forster, producer Richard Gladstein and screenwriter David Magee. The participants comment on the various challenges faced during this production such as casting and working with children, the visual effects, when certain scenes were shot among other things. They tend to point out their favorite scenes and what they liked about the film without being to technical or going into too much detail. Some areas of interest was developing and adapting the script from the original play it was based on and the differences between the two. Generally this is a rather dry track and can be a bit boring at times especially with the soft spoken nature of the director's speech. Next is "Finding The Magic Of Neverland" a featurette that runs for 16 minutes 5 seconds, this is the standard EPK clip that sees the key cast and crew tell us what a great film this is, having such a great time making and how wonderful everyone is. Along the way we learn about what the film is about and also a look at the different incarnations of "Peter Pan" there have been over the years. Following that is "Creating Neverland" a featurette which runs for 3 minutes 4 seconds and briefly explores the special effects used on the film to create the seamless transitions between the reality and fantasy worlds. "On The Red Carpet" is a featurette that runs for 2 minutes 24 seconds and sees the cast walk the red carpet during the premiere screenings of the film as they talk to the press about the film and their characters. 3 deleted scenes are include with optional audio commentary by director Marc Forster, producer Richard Gladstein and screenwriter David Magee. In the commentary the participants talks about the scenes and why they were removed, they are: - "Pretend You Still Care" which runs for 50 minutes, in this clip Mary expresses her disappointment in being embarrassed in public. - "Only Grown-ups Can Have Children" runs for 42 seconds, Barrie explains that he doesn't know why he has no children. - "Depending on J.M. Barrie" runs for 1 minute 2 seconds, Sylvia tells James that they depend on him and joke about replacing him with a donkey. Next up are a series of outtakes presented in a reel that runs for 5 minutes 32 seconds, here we see the cast acting silly, flubbing lines, missing cues and breaking into laughter in the middle of a take. The usual stuff that last a single viewing. Rounding out the extras is a Blu-ray promo spot that runs for 1 minute 26 seconds as well as bonus trailers for: - "Invincible" which runs for 2 minutes 33 seconds. - "The Prestige" which runs for 2 minutes 30 seconds. - "Anti-piracy" spot which runs for 48 seconds. Also included is "Movie Showcase" which jumps to three key reference scenes that show off the high-definition quality.
Overall
This film has been reviewed by Roger Nicholl. The DVD specifications and extras have been reviewed by Noor Razzak.
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