Finding Neverland (2004)

After his latest play is a flop, London playwright J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp) casts about for inspiration. His attentiveness and whimsical spirit takes up with widow Sylvia (Kate Winslet) and her four boys. Amidst grief over their father's death and their mother's worsening illness, he teaches them to be playful and to find their muse, even as he searches anew for his own. High society, meanwhile, is forbiddingly acid-tongued about the relationship, especially Barrie's status-conscious wife (who lives a separate life in the same house) and Sylvia's imposing mother. Finally, inspired by the child within him and his affection for the fatherless boys, Barrie writes and produces Peter Pan. Its premiere succeeds only because at the last minute, Barrie smuggles in 25 orphans, whose laughter inoculates the stuffiest of crowds with childlike mirth. Four stars.