It was my younger brother’s graduation ceremony this afternoon. He has done his junior high. The PC hall has turned into classrooms, and the new building is still under construction. Therefore, we were suffering the heat and sweating in the sheltered playground, participated in the ceremony.

Things changed since I had left PC. Teachers are gone, what I saw today were all those unfamiliar faces who were suppose to be taking care of all the school kids. Of course there were a few who we can recognize each other and talked a bit what’s on in PC. Its just that things have changed, so do I.

I nearly cried when I saw my brother stepping on the stairs, waiting to get the graduate certification. I still remember when he finished his kinder garden, he gave an performance on the graduation ceremony. They were doing some king of fairy tales which I cant remember what exactly it was about. My brother was doing an elf, wearing a little red ball on his nose. It was a remarkable moment when he found out that I was taking pictures for him and he stayed on the stage, pulling his body towards me and made a funny face that I can never forget in the rest of my life. There he is, a little boy who seems like never grow up. Now, he is ten times taller and stronger than I.

The reason why I start my critics with my brother’s story is that Finding Neverland is somewhat a movie about growing up. The story is inspired by true event that has been recorded about the author of Peter Pan—James Barrie. It is about how this magnificent fairy tale is created. James is living in the early 20th century in London, in which theatre is considered to be the entertainment for all the court people. James has a desire to change it as he never satisfied with the society he is living in. Contrary to his wife, he still has a child’s heart and always believes in faith. It is his philosophy that things would turn out to be what you believe them to be. There is a faith of a strong mastery of life. He puts everything he believes in into play. Yet his real life gives him no room for that until he met Mrs Daives and her boys.

This is the essence of the whole film when James met Daives in the park. There is a magical interaction between him and Peter, who is the second youngest in Davies family. James knows how to read people, and he reads Peter very well and he seems to be the only one who can see into Peter. Since then, James spends most of his time playing with the kids. He put everything they went through into words and that is how ‘Peter Pan’ has come up with.

Grown Up

Mrs. Daives is a widow, as she gets closer and closer to James, she is convinced by James that things would definitely getting better once we believe in it. James gives the Daives family a hope, and he gives the kids back their childhood that they have lost after his father’s death. Children have grown up when their mother is found under serious illness. It recalls them the day before their father died. They don’t want their mother to step behind their father. The only thing they can do is to encourage Mrs. Daives to go to hospital and take all the meditation required by the doctors. The children become so brave that I think they are taking the position of their father. This is the hope of the Daives family.

It is a play within a play.

James Barrie is a playwright. He treasures human being’s imagination and believe that it is a gift for us to change the world to be lovelier. He believes in Neverland, where is an Eden in all of our heart. He encourages Peter and Mrs. Daives to find their own Neverland, it is a motivation to live. Neverland can give people comfort and let us be the real master of our life. The role of the theatre in the movie is very important. Its not only for entertainment, it is showing people how to make something impossible possible. The most impressive scene is at the beginning of the Peter Pan show, Peter Pan shows the kids how to fly, like a kite. With the assistance of the wires, four kids are flying around the theatre---it is the moment when our dreams come true. So do James. I especially like the scene when James invite all the orphans to the theatre and split them to sit with the rich people. It means a lot to the orphans that they have never dreamt of sitting in a marvelous theatre, enjoying a play which is inspired by them.
James is not only an impractical dreamer, he is making his dream come true.

Why did she have to die? She went to Neverland.

Mrs Daives died at the end. Peter asked James, “Why did she have to die?” This is his answer: “She went to Neverland. She never leaves us, she is in every page of your journal, your imagination.”


SO, Do you believe in fairies?