Review:
Finding Neverland (2004) is a movie about a playwright (James) who meets a family (four boys and their mother Sylvia) at a park and continues to spend time with them. James struggled with his latest show and ends up spending countless hours with this family enjoying imaginative play, which leads to his production of Peter Pan and Neverland. Sylvia’s health continues to decline during the movie and the movie ends with the loss of Sylvia, while the boys are left in the care of James and their grandmother.

Finding Neverland is helpful for counselors encountering clients facing loss, especially children. An early scene of James and the boys playing in the backyard depicts a creative way to help kids in getting past their grief, paralleling play therapy (Peter has not been the same since the death of his father). With the boys, the counselor can see that not all children react to loss the same way and recognize this uniqueness when trying to help children cope (Peter seems to struggle more than the other boys and writing is something James encourages for him). At the end, during the play, dying is talked about as an adventure and afterwards James speaks with Ms. Snow (a widow); she speaks of the metaphor of the ticking crocodile and how time is chasing all of us. Later, James talks with Peter about keeping his mom on every page of his imagination and is candid with Peter about not knowing why his mom died.