A Monster Calls

Saw this on Tiktok about to watch it 😊💜

Absoute torture! Very very slow. Sad and depressing. I don't know how this movie has such good reviews. It one of those movies that tries to be intelligent but is absolutely a bad one. Good animation though. Don't waste the two hours in your life, especially if its a weekend. Bad acting. Bad story.

My wife and I sat dumbfounded by how awful this movie was for its entire duration entirely sustained by the hope that the praise it received would be shown meritous at some point. Two hours later, at the end of the movie, we just raised our hands in a silent "really?". It's long. It's slow. It's transparent from start to finish. The plot is uninteresting and there is no suspense, there are no good characters, the plot is nearly nonexistent, and the movie inspires no interest in the audience. It wants to tug at your heartstrings so badly that it strains from the effort and falls flat on its face. It then proceeds to ramble on for two hours about nothing particularly specific or even novel while doing it's best to ensure you don't accidentally forget that you should totally be sad and immersed. I give this poop out of five stars. I want my rating to be a poop emoji and I don't even like emojis.

If you have ever lost someone to a terminal illness, do yourself a favor and skip this dark, gut-wrenching movie. It was the most depressing piece I have ever watched. The monster was the only redeeming quality in it. Sorry but I don't find reliving painful memories entertaining.

I don't know who you would market this movie to. It's not a kid's movie, tho it tries very hard to look like one. It's not an adult movie (a boy and a talking tree), tho its themes certainly are mature. Both child and adult will squirm under the relentless emotional requirement with only a faint wisp of humor to lighten things up. Melancholy overload anyone? No? But if you make it to the end, you'll have received an unexpected cathartic cleansing and a life lesson in your pocket that is hard, but beautiful in its truth. Once you stop blubbering, that is.

Having gone to see the film on the recommendation of two renowned film critics, I just had to share my review. This film is not a classic and is nothing like or even close to the beauty, fantasy or story of Pan's Labyrinth which has been a comparison.There are other monster, dragon, fantasy films that are much better.Apart from the last 30 minutes which are admittedly very well acted, tearful and sad, most of the film is a disappointment losing it's story line and identity along the way. The child actor is good but the rest do not not engender warmth into their characters. In short it is a film that does not worthy it's current 7.8 rating.

A MONSTER CALLS is another film centred around the folklore figure of the 'tree man' already thoroughly explored in everything from GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY to LORD OF THE RINGS and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. This time around he's a friendly creature who visits a mixed-up young boy to tell him stories in the dead of night. It turns out the kid's mother is dying of cancer, so the tree man is there to help him cope and grieve. Yeah, it's a rather cynical film that goes for the obvious approach throughout, but merely comes across as depressing. The actors fail to really get into their roles and a miscast Sigourney Weaver and her off-putting British accent don't help, although Toby Kebbell comes across well as always. The tree man scenes go overboard on the CGI and Liam Neeson merely reprises his Aslan role with a voice full of gravity. I found the whole thing hugely predictable, copying the likes of THE BFG somewhat shamelessly, and imparting a message that would take 10 minutes tops to film.

(RATING: ☆☆☆☆ out of 5) THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED. IN BRIEF: A visually stunner caught up in the undergrowth of its own conventional storytelling. GRADE: B SYNOPSIS: A child suffers the harsh realities of life and retreats to another world. JIM'S REVIEW: J. A. Bayona's A Monster Calls is a visually imaginative downer of a tale about a young boy who must learn to cope with grief. Based on the award-winning children's book by Patrick Ness and adapted by the author himself, the film uses animation and live action to tell its tale of woe. The results of this dark tale are enlightened by stylish direction and a highly effective performance by newcomer. Lewis MacDougall. Mr. MacDougall plays Conor O'Malley whose life is filled with too many harsh realities: a mother suffering from terminal cancer (Felicity Jones), a distant grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) and a more distant father (Toby Kebbell), a cruel bully (James Melville). Real life offers no solitude, so Conor retreats to an imaginary world which brings with it a giant yew monster (Liam Neeson). During his visits, the tree creature provides some respite for Conor. He gives him sage advice by telling some stories to help this child through the darkness to find some solace in the real world. A Monster Calls is more of an allegory and the film's narrative structure uses the format of interspersing animated vignettes as parables to the parallel story of Conor and his terminally-ill mother. Yes, the film is manipulative from the start, with its undeniable melodramatic set-up and ultimately tragic conclusion. The real world story is dull and so relentless in its brooding melancholia compared to the free-spirited other worldly realm and, at times, this reviewer wanted to stay in the latter. But the filmmakers treat their serious subject with such dignity and honesty, avoiding the maudlin and sentimental for the most part. There is so much to admire about Mr. Bayona's film. (The subject is not an easy task to sell to the general public. Not surprisingly, the movie is doing lackluster business in the States, although globally it is doing well. Nowadays, American moviegoers are looking to escape reality, such like the main character.) Technically, the film soars. From Oscar Fuura's stunning photography to Fernando Velazquez's haunting music score, the film looks death squarely in the face and celebrates life. Seamlessly edited by Benat Vilplana and Jaume Marti, A Monster Calls uses its sumptuous visuals to its advantage. With swirls of bright watercolor washes adding a vibrancy to the film's story-within- a story format, the film efficiently contrasts the real from the unreal. Kudos to director Bayona and his team of artisans on their handling of this delicate theme. The lead performances are all first-rate, Mr. Neeson voices the Monster perfectly and his motion capture performance is wonderful and so heartfelt. Ms. Jones brings superb understatement to her role as Conor's sickly parent. Her chemistry with Mr. MacDougall seems genuine and authentic. This young actor, in his film debut, is remarkable and runs the full gamut of emotions without one false note. Providing supporting work in their rather stock roles are Ms. Weaver and Mr. Kebbell who are merely serviceable, possibly due to the writing and characters. A Monster Calls is indeed a Grimm tale, but one that deserves your attention. And be forewarned, bring a hankie with you.

The trailer for this movie was perfect, a real tearjerker focusing on exactly what the synopsis says: a little boy coming to terms with his mother's terminal illness with the help of his imagination. As someone who just lost his mother to cancer I was sobbing while watching the trailer and put this movie on my "must-see" -list. Unfortunately, the movie left me a bit cold. First the good parts. The relationship between the boy (Connor) and the monster works very well and the animations that go along with the monster's stories are absolutely gorgeous. I'm usually quite sceptical about combining different visual elements because it rarely works but here the tone and amount is just perfect. Another aspect of the film that works is the chemistry between the dying mother and her son. Oddly enough, this is the movie's biggest flaw since the mother has such a small part in the storyline. The first half of the movie strikes as unfocused, as if the director didn't know what he wanted to say. Quite often movies based on novels suffer from lack of focus because the director was unable to cut away portions from the source material. That is also the case with A Monster Calls. The heart of the story, the mother, is pushed aside in the very first minutes and we are introduced to a number of characters that add nothing to the story. More screen time is given to school bullies than to the mother which seems very odd. Apparently the director couldn't help himself and just had to dwell in bullying. A pattern which seems to be a norm in children's movies. Then we are introduced to the father, a character completely irrelevant to the story. His only purpose is to show that Connor comes from a broken family. I haven't read the novel the film is based on, so I can not say what his purpose was supposed to be. Perhaps his role was to showcase how important the mother was for the boy, since she's the only parent he's got. None of that comes through in the film, though. The father walks in and out, amounting to nothing. Then there's the grandmother who is introduced as an uptight caricature with too many minutes wasted on stressing her strictness. This is a real shame since the character also provides the most heartfelt moments in scenes establishing the shared grief she and Connor both feel. Something really amazing could've been accomplished with this pairing without the needless "evil grandmother" tropes. A real missed opportunity, I feel. Once the film has established just how hard a life Connor has, the focus goes back to where it should have always been: the mother and Connor's acceptance of her state of health. This is clearly the strong point of the story and the ending is executed beautifully. The emotional impact of the last half an hour or so also reminds the viewers of how impactful the entire film could've been had the father been reduced to a side mention and the minutes dedicated for school bullies cut in half in order to raise the profile of the mother. By doing so, A Monster Calls could've accomplished something groundbreaking by talking about cancer to children, many of whom will unfortunately be affected by it. This message, however, gets lost with the director juggling with too many elements.

So, if you watch the trailer for this film, you might be forgiven for thinking that it is a fantasy romp suitable to take your children to see. The fantastic elements of the film are prioritised in the trailer and the addition of a stirring, epic theme might make you think it is all going to be good fun. But look again. The dialogue should tell you that there is something dark going on in this film but don't be tempted to think it is just an "obstacle" for the characters to overcome. It really is dark. What the film is, is a coming of age drama about a boy whose mother is dying of cancer and his struggle to come to terms with that. The fantastic elements are, much like Bridge to Terabithia, simply the way that the boy makes sense of the events over which he has no control. Unlike Terabithia, however, A Monster Calls has no light moments preceding the darker moments of the film. It is all darak. Dark, and dreary, and terribly depressing. The eventual catharsis the boy experiences at the end of the movie can in no way wash away the downward mood swing this feature will engender throughout its runtime. So be warned, despite the trailer, this is not a kid's movie in any way, shape, or form. If I'm honest, I'm not sure who would find this movie entertaining. At most, it might make you think a little but, if you've ever had any kind of childhood trauma you might consider giving it a miss. It really is that depressing. On the plus side, it is reasonably well acted, especially by newcomer Lewis MacDougall. Others, less so, and I have no idea what Sigourney Weaver was doing with her accent other than to say I've never heard anyone English talk like that. Visually, it is very striking, but that is really all that is going for it as a form of entertainment. The band Fallout Boy once wrote a song with the lyrics "The best of us can find happiness in misery..." This movie puts a lie to that assertion. There is no joy to be found is this movie, only despondency and sadness. Mostly, I think this just goes to show you should never trust a movie trailer to judge a film's content by. Another recent example of this was Mr. Holmes, which portrayed its subject matter as a light hearted romp as well. At least that one doesn't leave you feeling miserable by the end of it. In short, not a fun movie in any way and woefully misrepresented by its marketing media, which seemed intent on simply getting as many bums on seats in the auditorium as possible. SUMMARY: Horribly depressing look at life, and its end. Not for children, ever. Not really for adults, either. Well made, but dreary and terribly badly marketed. Avoid.