neverwas be a muddled film that reduce the heartbreak of the disease of schizophrenia to a fanciful lark of literary imagination and child fanciful dream . gabriel ( ian mckellan ) be a hospitalized mental patient whose terror of childhood abuse have drive him away from society and into the forest where he have construct a kingdom of neverwas . zack ( aaron eckhardt ) be a psychiatrist who leave an academic career to take a position in a small mental hospital where his celebrated writer or father tom be commit and where he encounter gabriel and who recognize zack a the child of the neverwas myth . haunt by the mythic story of zack small and the boy hero of his father best seller child book and also title neverwas and zack attempt to bring peace to the troubled mind of the mental patient and understand the clue which gabriel delight in leave for him . attempt to piece together in a non linear route of discovery and despite night terror and and maniacal enchantment zack task be to outwit the system of stifle bureaucratic medicine and legal blockade and and commercial exploitation of neverwas through gabriel clue . if this begin to sound like a pitch for a feel good and warm and fuzzy commercial spot it abound in the film . with a superb cast of jessica lange a zack bruise alcoholic mother who can not forget her dead husband and brittany murphy a a reporter and alan cummings and and william hurt a the hospital administrator and neverwas ramble toward a showdown in which gabriel escape to lead zack on a merry chase back to the primeval landscape to revive his spirit of freedom from responsibility in a never end playtime . while the premise of father son reconciliation and redemption and forgiveness and and fulfillment weave through the film and it be never achieve a the reality of the disease of schizophrenia can never be overlook and and be anything but a playful romp in the forest green . the brilliant mckellen simply re enact his gandalf personality with too much reliance on the seven dwarf to come to the rescue . a the police surround the trash heap tower gabriel have erect on privately own forest land and the notion of squatter right and eco terrorism and and forest service clear cut loom over the delusional situation that threaten to stop gabriel fantasy life . nevertheless and this be hollywood which require an upbeat end . the improbability of salvation for the kingdom and the king and and the crown prince from the scourge of mental illness be forget and they all live happily ever after be the ultimate absurdity .