Soundtrack Review: Finding Neverland

By Douglas Strassler Apr 28, 2005, 17:16 GMT

While the film is quite complex, Kaczmarek highlights several key elements of the film.  One aspect emphasized by the film’s soundtrack is the ability to get inside the head of Barrie, the author and playwright who created the classic family play Peter Pan, so audiences get a lot of piano work to demonstrate the depth of thought and feeling going on inside Barrie’s mind.  In fact, some tracks, including “The Pirates, “The Peter Pan Overture,” “The Play and the Flight,” and two piano variations on “Neverland,” serve the movie’s themes very well because they emerge right out of the play

Also, though it operates on many adult levels, the film homes in on the innocent, childlike qualities of the children Barrie befriends, so Kaczmarek uses a good deal of children’s choir work.  This sounds almost chirpy, bouncing up and down for the film’s heartwarming playful moments.  But used over the course of the movie, Kaczmarek creates a sense of momentum; we can see how these fun days Barrie spends with the children ultimately inspire him to write the play.  Such use of the piano becomes rather dominant during the movie; but in simply listening to the soundtrack, one can appreciate the work (credited to Leszek Mozdzer, who, like Kaczmarek, is Polish).

What Kaczmarek mostly achieves is an upbeat lilt to the fantasy score.  This soundtrack relives the lighter and more touching aspects of the film, and never loeses sight of the fact that it stems from a family film.

The Academy certainly got it right this year.  Kaczmarek’s music is absolutely beautiful.  Any fan of the movie can relive the experience time an again with this soundtrack.  But you need not see the film to grasp the magic of his music.  Listening to it is enough to make anyone fly.

The soundtracks is available via Amazon and Amazon UK.

You can view a full track listing in our database.