FINDING  NEVERLAND    -          A  Narada Film Review

    JOHNNY  DEP   
    as....JM Barrie
      
  DUSTIN  HOFFMAN
  ...as  Charles Frohman   
   
             
   KATE WINSLET
   ...as  Sylvia Llewelyn Davies
FINDING NEVERLAND - 2004   -Marc Forster-Director   &  Nellie Bellflower  -Producer
   FINDING NEVERLAND was filmed in dreary old England --but with plenty of fake sunshine to make it seem like the Island actually has real sunshine.    In Victorian times (when the story takes place), the city was under a pall of coal-dust and every third person had tuberculosis, but as this is supposed to have a 'Neverlandish' quality, we won't be picky.   Given this insipid setting, and the entirely transparent, formulaic tear-jerker plot (make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, make 'em cry again), FINDING NEVERLAND never really had a chance.
         What FINDING NEVERLAND does reveal, however, is one of England's best kept 'in-house' secrets.   This revelation alone makes the outrageous cost of tickets at Bangkok's Emporium Theater worth every Baht.   OK, OK, enough drum-roll - I know you are all as eager to find out the secret as I was.   One of the scenes in this film is set at a Cricket Match.   Now, anyone who owns a TV can tell you how incomprehensible this so-called game is, but did you know that basically it is intended to delude - the actual underlying purpose of conducting a Cricket Match is to provide a community area for backbiting, rumor-mongering and character assassination.   It has nothing whatsoever to do with 'sports' or getting some fresh air in the park.   Cricket in fact has no rules - and never did - the "players" dress up in bowling-green attire and other ridiculous articles of clothing and 'equipment' to do their part in perpetuating the hoax on the 'outside world' (but mainly the French).   Don't forget, you heard it here first.
         In case you hadn't noticed, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has already published the nominees for the upcoming "77th".   Nominated for a slew of Oscars, FINDING NEVERLAND had better not start preening it's feathers just yet.   In spite of Johnny Dep's best ever performance, this film is this year's annual Oscars sop - it has been given a slew of nominations by way of 'recognition' of work done by a number of Hollywood's 'darlings' - the Academy in fact has absolutely no intention of giving any Oscars to them .....unless of course, they need to break a deadlock on "Costume Design".    You also heard that here first.
      Enduring Line or Phrase:  "The critics...they made it important."

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