Monday, January 24, 2005

Finding Neverland

We went to see Finding Neverland on Saturday night.

Here's a summary from the web site: Finding Neverland is 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 1904, the film is a fictional account of Barrie's creative journey to bring Peter Pan to life...

I know what you're thinking: kill me now. Normally, seeing the words "magic" and "fantasy" in the same sentence when describing a movie are enough for me to fire up the Vomitron. Usually they're used in conjunction with the phrase "three generations of women." However, Gloria invoked The Johnny Depp Rule, which basically means that if Johnny Depp is in it, I'll go. He's one of the greatest character actors I've ever seen.

So we went and the movie was terrific--tremendously creative and very funny. Depp was sensational. Okay, there was "magic" and "fantasy" in there, but not in the Woman Dreams of Chocolate Bar Turning Into Giant Serpent, Inspiring Her to Open an Orphanage kind of way.

At one point, though, one of the main characters coughed, and Gloria and I turned to each other and whispered.
"She's dead," Gloria said.
"Man, with shovel, digging hole," I said.

That's the thing with period films, particularly anything around 1900 and earlier. If anyone coughs, they'll be dead soon. And she was.

For many years I've wanted to see Johnny Depp (the finest character actor of his generation) in a film with Helena Bonham Carter (who is the finest character actress of her generation). They're both doing voice work in Corpse Bride, but that's not the same. I found out today, though, that they're both appearing in the film version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (also directed by Tim Burton) as well as Shantaram.

I'm not sure if there's any coughing.

And when I spell-checked this, "Vomit Ron" was suggested for "Vomitron." I just wanted you Ron's to know.

Site Meter