A Monster Calls Review

PG13: Thematic Content and Some Scary Images

Focus Features, Participant Media, River Road Entertainment

1 Hr and 47 Minutes

Cast: Lewis MacDougall, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Liam Neeson as the voice of the Monster

REVIEW:  After 4 years, J.A Bayona is back. After helping Naomi Watts earn an Oscar nomination for his disaster film The Impossible in 2012, it was time to direct a film just in time for awards season before he directs the next Jurassic World. Based on the short story by Patrick Ness (also screenwriter for the film) which was based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd, this story brings a sad tale with very familiar elements.

Conor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is a young boy who tries to deal with the terminal illness of his mother (Felicity Jones) and the attacks by local school bully Harry (James Melville). One night, Conor encounters a "monster" (Liam Neeson) in the form of a giant humanoid yew tree who has come to tell him stories and soon begins to help Conor fix his unhappy life

THE GOOD: One thing to immediately appreciate about A Monster Calls is the different production and story elements combined into one tale. Think of the imagery of Where the Wild Things Are and the grim cinematography styling of A Series of Unfortunate Events and the depressing reality of every indie movie film centered on a dying loved one (Wish I Was Here, The Hollars, Demolition) and you have everything here. Bayona takes a short story give it a complex emotional depth that other films don’t fully explore. Lewis McDougall does a great job as Conor where through the film you see his character develop having to deal with this maturely depressing journey through his eyes. Try not to cry the film’s final act. It’s honestly rather difficult not to do. 

One of the best aspects of the film is Liam Neeson as The Monster. No, he is not another incarnation of Groot, but he does give a stellar voice performance more than any of his other voice work in the past. When you have a booming voice of Liam Neeson in your film you cast him as a Raccoon or a Lego police officer (okay that actually worked), but make him a gigantic monstrous tree. With him as this tree, Neeson’s voice accompanies the height and design. 

The look of The Mon- you know what? I’m just going to call him The Tree because that’s exactly what The Monster is: a tree. With The Tree, the design and level detailing is incredible. With the $43,000,000 budget, the film puts all of its effects to work. There are so many branches in him that are so detailed realistically that it integrates well with the interactions of these characters. Never for a moment, it seemed like McDougall is interacting with nothing.  It never seems to once occur to me that this was a CG Tree. The great amount of detailing into the Tree’s effects breathes all the life that captures the childhood bond of a boy and the creature that helps him to grow. Again, similar to Max and Carol in Where the Wild Things Are.

Even the makeup of the film is great. You have a dying Felicity Jones who is the absenter of the emotion of the film. As beautiful as she is, the makeup transforms her into a pale sick woman with cracked lips which gives you genuine chills. 

Another great feature the film has to offer is The Tree’s stories. Not saying necessarily the stories are remarkable or anything, but they are presented in a rich and unique animation style. The film uses animation storytelling that mixes watercolor paintings with CG designs similar to The Little Prince. 

THE BAD: The film is not as you would expect. It lacks subtlety with its symbolism. When The Tree is introduced, he pretty much says to the audience and Conor “yeah I’m just here to give you expositional stories that give you some pretty obvious morals to help you cope with this situation.” It has elements to help elevate it to stand out from the coming of age story crowd but winds up back into the predictable field. It is when Conor has to confront his inner demons that the film grows its roots (pun intended). 

The biggest vibe the film may have on its audience is oddly how much it screams Netflix. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing especially since Netflix produces a lot of great original content from TV and film. The film begins similarly to a Netflix show where the opening credits follow nearly the same format. You’ll believe me when you see it.

THE RENDY: What makes this film a bit confusing is its appeal. A Monster Calls has a PG13 rating yet it would appeal to a PG audience. There is no cursing with the exception of one use of the word damn, but that can still give it a PG rating. It truly baffles me.

Well, it is about DAMN time you put Toby Kebbell, in a good movie where he is charming as hell. This entire year he has been in so many critically panned films being both Warcraft and Ben-Hur. He has so much charm that it’s unfortunate to see him in bad films. Thankfully he is in this where he’s really cool. He’s that cool deadbeat dad that you love every moment he is around. Though he is very deadbeat, he gives a good performance.

LAST STATEMENT: Although it’s narrative many be too familiar but the detailed visual effects and character development help Bayona's A Monster Calls carry this coming age story out of the crowded water. 

Rating: 3.5/5 | 77%

Super Scene: The Monster comes to school.