A Monster Calls

So lovingly and meticulously crafted that you should be more than prepared to forgive it its narrative missteps and occasional melodramatic manipulation. Visually sumptuous and beautifully shot, it got me right it the feely-balls too.

As someone who (fortunately) didn't have to deal with trauma when he was young (beyond the time my dad and step-mother had a big spat at a wooded campground while bored suburbanites roasting hot dogs leered at us), this movie felt truly genuine, though I could see how those who have had to deal with their own trauma might find it trite, as everyone deals with loss in different and profound ways. My Liam Neeson tree, however, taught me it's okay to enjoy hot dogs again.

Well fuck me, that was lovely. There are those that will refuse to consider this great cinema -- aka nerds -- but that monster's tree branches pierced through my skin and wrapped around my heart and ripped it right out. Yes, I'm being melodramatic. Yes, the movie is melodramatic. So what. The presence of the monster, both internal and external, is a good and strong analogy. It's hard to deal with loss without some kind of monster awakening as a result. The monster is destructive. But it heals.

A bit slow, but the beautifully illustrated stories and really melancholic tone are interesting together. Neeson is perfect for this, the supporting cast is good, and MacDougall carries his weight well as a child actor. It’s certainly more for mature audiences who grew up with fairy tales, as younger ones will either be bored or depressed. I need more fantasy dramas like this and Pan’s Labyrinth.

Boring until the third act. Then it's a bit Stephen King levels of dramas.

A Monster Calls is just a treasure chest brimming with grief. It so overloads the viewer with this emotion that, by the end, we are left exhausted but also bored. Along the way there are some beautiful images and solid performances, to be sure, but the one note message gets stale.

It has been a long time since I've given a movie a rating higher than 90. This may look like a children's movie, but it is definitely not. If you like sad movies, you'll be chopping onions throughout. A strong story line with a good ending, which is very rare in movies these days. The animation sequences, while not your typical animation, were also top notch. Some parts, e.g., the bullying scenes, might seem unneeded, but if you look deeper, there's a reason they are there.

Morbid and self-absorbing fantasy that wants desperately to be a Del Toro film, but ends up being just another misfire from JAB.

A Monster Calls is an emotional kick in the groin with a lot of character as it blend fantasy with reality. While being visually stunning it deals with an adult coming-of-age theme and provokes thought on the matter of personal loss and recovery. The emotional kick is elevated by the outstanding perfomance of the young Lewis MacDougall as he carries the film with ease. A masterpiece in terms of theme, lead performance and visuals.

While emotionally complex, still felt fragmentally flawed. Liam Neeson's tree monster is the best since Vin Diesel's Groot.

The rare kids movie that does not talk down to kids, but treats them like the complex, miniature people they are.

The giant didn't need to be this kid-friendly, when it's not really a movie for kids, and the subplot about bullying wasn't necessary for us to feel sorry for Conor. But a strong finish won me over, and it will get "a bit dusty in the theater" for some, I think.

don't remember it

Well made, but lacks in atmosphere and script.

It's fine, but the script feels more like a book than anything any living human would actually say. That combined with the cheap cg and generic school bully overshadows the more meaningful parts.

How can a prince be a murderer and a saviour ?

A thematically adult kids movie that's too caught up in being an emotional coming of age story to really benefit from the fantasy elements. It is certainly dark, and sometimes powerful, but I didn't really get much out of it.

Opinión personal: 6,5 Actores: 6,5 Planos: 7 Guión: 6 BSO/FX: 7 Total: 66

ger; [a monster calls; Sieben Minuten nach Mitternacht]; ein junge verliert seine mutter - bei dem sterbeweg wird er von einem monster begleitet.;

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80.50

I was bored out of my mind. The messages the film tries to convey are lacking in subtlety. While I wouldn't call them cliché, they could certainly have been dealt with in a more creative way. The tone is bleak, which is also reflected in the used colour palette and grading. This makes for an unpleasant visual watch. The appeals to emotion feel cheap. In the end, I was no wiser than before watching this film. While I normally enjoy Neeson, he irritated me in this. Unlikable protagonist. Avoid!

This resonated me at my lowest when I was feeling particularly sad and alone. When it passed, I watched it again and found it a bit much.

I love the role that stories play in this film about how one boy deals with the grief of his mother's cancer. These stories are beautifully animated with watercolors, setting them off from the often drab surroundings of Conor's world. The film has plenty of wisdom about the ways of the grieving, and I especially like that it finds glimmers of hope in the midst of deep suffering.

Feels overdone at times, but the monster is neat looking and Neeson is the perfect voice for it. MacDougall is pretty solid.

What a surprise, this one is. The subject is really difficult to deal with, especially if you just lost someone you love. But the story is incredible and very well told. The acting is really powerful (except for Weaver), and you will cry at the end. 70/100.

I thought this was pretty good. Not perfect, but it really hit home where it counted. It deals with ideas of grief in a nice, beautiful, if not exactly subtle way. It's kind of like a mix between My Neighbor Totoro (1988) and Bridge to Terabithia (2007). It was very well shot, and I enjoyed the animated sequences. The young actor in the lead role was very good, and Sigourney Weaver gave an excellent performance. And yeah, it just very much got to me, emotionally.

Visually sumptuous fairy tale wavers uneasily between childish fantasy, and a more serious "adult" tone -- but the performances are terrific; Neeson's tree-monster is a fascinating creation, and Weaver injects genuine emotion into the potentially thankless 'Grandma' role. Highlights are the animated puppet fables interspersed throughout; well-designed, and grounded by a sly, dark sense of humour, managing a tone that the film as a whole unfortunately can't sustain.

Melodramatically sentimental and unnecessarily grandiose on its small statements, it's a movie at odds with its own tone.

AMC is absolutely gripping storytelling with some imaginative visuals, superb CGI and a wonderful score, but it fails to sustain its momentum and grip due to a weak script and miscast characters (Weaver as a brit?). The biggest problem is MacDougalls acting which was straight out of a school play; too "sassy", clever, shouty, sounding like he couldn't wait to get the next line he learned out. Kids are not like that and it took most of the poignancy away from the film. Left me largely unmoved

good storytelling but a bit complex, misses some important moments

A Monster Calls juxtaposes beautiful visuals against a tragic plot, though it's never as intense as the trailer led me to believe. I gravitated more towards the animated segments that are intrinsically more imaginative, whereas other scenes were a little too bleak and filled with contrivances. Neeson and MacDougall do a great job, brining emotion to their scenes. Jones is good at playing meek, but Weaver's performance was a bit suspect. A good film, but not without its flaws.

The monster in him was real. The fantasy parts were nicely animated though they were scary. I liked the complex story telling while there was some easy parts. The animation style was really for my taste, specially the 2D ones.

there is nothing happy about this film, only redeeming quality is the fact its pretty

No need to say much about this movie. It speaks for itself. This one is perfection ! My review here : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/2017/01/a-monster-calls-2016.html [Full review]

One would think this was a little on the dark side for it's target audience. While there is a big scary tree monster, this is primarily about dealing with grief as the boy in the story is losing his mother to longterm illness. The moral mission was perhaps spelled out a little too clearly, it still deals with the subject of death in a complex manner through fables, family and troubles at school. The tone always pitch black and will definitely hit an emotional core with those that can relate.

Trashgrandmahouselmao+snapsbeatsupbully-hospital+whenyoulookbackknowikneweverythingyouwantedtosaywithoutyouhavingtosayit+apartofyouwisheditwouldendeveniflosingher+thatswhyallthestorieswerelikecontradictorilygoodpeople+4thstoryendswithboyholdingontomothercanfinallylethergo+findshismomdrawingbookhadallthosestories/chracters/thetreemonster

Instead, the Monster helps Conor to face the monsters in his own heart ... and to begin moving forward after his mother's death. "It will be hard," the Monster tells the boy in his last conversation with him. "It will be more than hard. But you will make it through, Conor O'Malley." (pluggedin.com)

Very Burtonesque film that's in dire need of 90s era Tim Burton. Has a lot of great moments but lacks the glue to mold them together. Lewis MacDougall and Felicity Jones are tremendous.

Quite hard hitting for a family film, but highly imaginative with traditional storytelling interlaced with modern family relationships. Highly emotional.

It's a simple (not simplistic) fable, gracefully adapted by Patrick Ness from his own novel, but laced with troubling psychological complexity manifested in the form of this outwardly monstrous tree.

I was pretty devastated by the harsh theme (in a good way), and the monster's stories were beautifully illustrated. A bit too manipulative at times though.

Well, yeah, if you don't like to cry - don't watch this movie. God, the feels.

Feels more like a kids movie for adults. There are a lot of great ideas and themes in here that a lot of young people should watch, but I feel like they wouldn't necessarily like it.