Finding Neverland (2004) - Forster and an inspired cast strike gold with story of Peter Pan's creation

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+ Best London Movie of the Year + Best Shooting Star Actor of the Year: Freddie Highmore

A splash of fantastic imagination and two fresh-faced major stars tempt on this poster for Marc Forster's Finding Neverland

Scottish writer James Barrie locates his inner boy again, as he connects with a London family consisting of a widow and her four sons, which enables him to invent and write the adventure of Peter Pan.

Finding Neverland is written by David Magee (Life of Pi (2012)), based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan (1998)) by Allan Knee (Little Women (2005)), which centers on the true story of writer J.M Barrie's creation of the Peter Pan character in the early 20th century. The film is directed by great German filmmaker Marc Forster (Machine Gun Preacher (2011)).
Finding Neverland is a heartbreaker and an extremely soothing watch. It has wonderfully adventurous parts and outstanding performances from Johnny Depp (Dark Shadows (2012)), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road (2008)), Julie Christie (Don't Look Now (1973)) and the boy actors, particularly Freddie Highmore (I Saw You (2002, TV-series)).
Not all of the visual ideas are resolved completely satisfactorily, but the film is splendid.

Related posts:

Marc Forster: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]  

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
World War Z (2013) - Forster, Pitt and Co.'s preposterous zombie junk   

Machine Gun Preacher (2011) - Butler finds faith and a Sudanese purpose in Forster's incredible true story 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $
Box office: 116.7 mil. $
=  Big hit (returned 4.66 times its cost)
[Finding Neverland premiered 4 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy and Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place in the UK, including London, in and around June 2002. The release was halted for a year due to a rights dispute with Miramax, who were releasing a major Peter Pan (2003) film, (which became a huge flop). The film opened #26 to a 220k $ first weekend in 8 theaters in North America and peaked at #8 and in 1,411 theaters (different weeks), grossing 51.6 mil. $ (44.2 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 9 mil. $ (7.7 %) and Italy with 8 mil. $ (6.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal to its rating here. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning one, for Best Score (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek (Horsemen (2009))). It lost Best Picture to Million Dollar Baby, Actor (Depp) to Jamie Foxx in Ray, Adapted Screenplay to Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor for Sideways, Art Direction, Editing and Costume Design to The Aviator. It was also nominated for 5 Golden Globes, 11 BAFTAs, won 3 National Board of Review awards and many other honors. The film has since been turned into a successful stage musical. Forster returned with Stay (2005). Depp returned in The Libertine (2004), Winslet in Extras (2005, TV-series) and theatrically in Romance & Cigarettes (2005), Christie in The Secret Life of Words (2005)) and Dustin Hoffman (Marathon Man (1976)) in I Heart Huckabees (2004)). Finding Neverland is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Finding Neverland?

Life of Pi (2012) - Lee's triumphant, stunning faith-builder

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+ Best Animal Movie of the Year

Richard Parker the Bengal tiger looks at us in all his stunning beauty on the poster for Ang Lee's Life of Pi

Piscine Patel is telling the story of his life to a writer: Of how he got named after a Parisian swimming pool, which made him a victim of bullying in his school days in India. And of how his father's decision to sell their zoo and move all the animals to Canada led him on an terrible, - and amazing, - perilous journey.

Life of Pi is an adaptation of Spanish Yann Martel's (Self (1996)) same-titled 2001 novel by Oscar-nominated David Magee (Finding Neverland (2004)) and directed by Oscar-winning Taiwanese master filmmaker Ang Lee (The Ice Storm (1997)). The adventurous story lives on some great themes: Loss, survival, sacrifice, loneliness and not least belief in God.
Life of Pi won me totally over the second time I saw it, as its unusual ending required that I saw it twice to really appreciate it. The film is in fact a complex near-parable. - Not your average 3D mega-movie!
Suraj Sharma (Million Dollar Arm (2014)), (who reportedly won the part after auditions of 3,000 young men!), gives a strong, Oscar-worthy lead performance. Pi is a visual cornucopia of colors and wild nature-impressions from first frame to last.
Life of Pi seems like a gift to humanity, an invitation to believe and to see the beauty and the wonders of God's creation everywhere around us. A truly inspiring masterpiece, not to be missed!
And Lee's best film yet, in my opinion, although I have only seen 6 of his 12 features. He is now working on the eagerly anticipated war comedy Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016).

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Ang Lee: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
Brokeback Mountain (2005) or, That Place That Weren't Possible

Watch the amazing trailer for the film here

Cost: 120 mil. $
Box office: 609 mil. $
= Big hit
[Pi had a long development, dating back to 2003, and both M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón and Jean-Pierre Jeunet were attached to direct at different stages. (Shyamalan left to direct Lady in the Water (2006) instead, a big mistake on his part.) Shooting took months in 2011 in India, Taiwan, (including 2½ months in the world's largest self-generating wave-tank there), and Canada. Lee shot scenes with Tobey Maguire as the writer but scrapped them and reshot with a less familiar face in the role, (Rafe Spall.) The majority of the incredible visual effects for the film were created by Oscar-winning Rhythm & Hues Studios, who went bankrupt in February 2013, sparking protests by enraged VFX people outside the Oscar ceremony that did not tolerate mention of the industry debacle. Audiences braved Hurricane Sandy that put large parts of New York and the East coast under water and went to see Pi, a film without major stars, but marketed as the next Avatar (2009), giving it a 30.5 mil. $ North-American first, extended Thanksgiving weekend. It grossed 124.7 mil. $ in North America (20.5 % of the total gross.) Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China (90.8 mil. $/14.9 %) and the UK (45.4 mil. $/7.5 %). It was #1 for 3 weeks in China, Australia and Chile and the biggest Hollywood hit of the year in India. It was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 4, making it the top-winning movie of the year: Best Director, Cinematography, Score and Visual Effects. It made many a Top 10 list of the year, including Roger Ebert's #2 movie of the year, behind Argo (2012). Life of Pi is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life of Pi?
Do you agree that it's Lee's best film yet?