‘Finding Neverland’ tells the story of the process by which J. M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) unlocked the door in the seriously roomy mansion of his imagination that led through to the titular island; a place where children could be children forever. Mired in a creative slough and constrained by the expectations of polite London society, Barrie befriends the Llewelyn Davies family whilst out searching for inspiration. A unit comprised of four headstrong boys and a doting widow (Kate Winslet), the Llewelyn Davies, in their unfettered approach as outsiders themselves (despite being from a socially prestigious lineage), spark in Barrie all his considerable powers of empathy and creativity. As surrogate father to the boys, Barrie indulges their fantasies and thereby undergoes an epiphany of sorts, presenting a new vision for his theatre based on the innocence of youth, which, initially at least confounds his benefactor and the producer of his works, Charles Frohman, here played by Dustin Hoffman. However, whilst Frohman comes to terms with Barrie’s new direction, his wife cannot forgive him his fancies and ever-increasing absences, whilst all about the chattering classes debate the whimsical playwright’s motives. As Barrie and the boys set about creating their other world, it is only a matter of time before the realities of this one start to press in on it.

Although it is unlikely that such sorts would be amongst the audience in the first place, ‘Finding Neverland’ really is a film to make the most hardnosed blubber just a little. If one judges the quality of a movie based on the emotional response it elicits from its audience, then ‘Finding Neverland’ is of the first rank: my tear ducts were positively throbbing by the time it came to view the credits through misty eyes. Yet, the film inures itself against criticism with the simple but profound observation that the use of imagination is central to our happiness as human beings; and so to criticise it for what it does to you when it itself exhibits so much in the way of visual and narrative flair would feel plain wrong. As it is, I doubt that many will feel manipulated in the slightest given the talent at work here: Johnny Depp, playing another of his man-child roles to absolute perfection paints Barrie as a dignified, misunderstood man who nevertheless has the strength and fortitude to salvage the runaway train of the family he fosters, becoming particularly close to the kindred Peter Llewelyn Davies (Freddy Highmore acting with a skill beyond his years), the archetype for the resolute hero of his play. Kate Winslet pulls another exemplary English rose from within the same drawer that contains all her other variations on the theme, but is absolutely winning nonetheless; and, the support from a number of big names is unobtrusive and all the more effective because of that.

But perhaps the biggest round of applause should be saved for the director; he deserves his bow. Marc Forster shows a deft touch throughout in melding fantasy with reality, suggesting Barrie’s moments of artistic enlightenment by momentarily showing the Llewelyn Davies’s matriarchal Grandmother as a hook-handed enemy to little people, for example. This gradual flourishing of both Barrie’s imaginings and Forster’s inspired visual sense, come together in a penultimate scene in which he stirringly suggests the liberating power of death, before grounding us again in the everyday as the protagonists come to terms with the heady events of Pan’s first night. All this is achieved on what must have been a relatively tight budget and through the thoughtful use of a small number of locations and sets, something which lends the film a palpable theatricality.

I can’t recommend this beautifully crafted film highly enough and really, if you miss it, you deserve to walk the plank for passing up on a perfect piece of popular entertainment.