A Monster Calls

J.A. Bayona's exquisite A Monster Calls blends pathos and sophistication, fairy tales and harsh realities into a small masterpiece.

The fact that not every terrible thing can be remedied or appropriately punished is a tough lesson even for adults to learn, but A Monster Calls helps find the sense in it.

This film thankfully isn’t a dramatic piece gunning for awards glory, but rather a heartwarming adventure through the emotional landscape of a child unsure how to live. It is very sentimental, but that’s kind of the point.

A Monster Calls is an engrossing tragic fantasy, sustained by genuine sentiment.

Based on the book by Patrick Ness, the film belongs alongside “Pan’s Labyrinth” in the realm of darkly creative kid-centric films that are, at their core, not really kids’ fare at all.

Ornamented heavily with creative visual pleasures, the film is bogged down, not just by weighty thematic issues — death, divorce, bullying, unfairness — but by professions of its own grandeur.

A Monster Calls is both governed and straitjacketed by director J.A. Bayona’s competent impersonality.

The intro and credits immediately establishes J.A Bayona as a master of his craft, beautiful cgi, animation and editing. The production values are super high, like Spielberg caliber. Just looking at the gorgeous photography and animation is worthwhile. The animation has a wonderful watercolor look, reminds me of Vanillaware (Odin Sphere) games. I was a little confused by a kid who didn't want to be ignored by bullies, usually introverted people are adverse to attention, especially abuse.

A Fatiguing Emotional Journey That Struggles to Conclude but Resonates as a Story for the Young Yet Not So Young.170604 (3.0)The stage was set grandly, but it lacks the finesse to bring everything to a satisfying close. The relentless squeezing of tears makes the experience consistently exhausting. Even so, it remains a poignant tale for someone who is young, yet no longer truly young. Directed by J.A. Bayona and adapted by Patrick Ness from his acclaimed novel, the 2016 dark fantasy drama "A Monster Calls" follows twelve-year-old Conor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall) as he struggles to cope with the terminal illness of his beloved mother (Felicity Jones). Facing severe bullying at school and an emotionally strained relationship with his strict grandmother (Sigourney Weaver), Conor finds his internal turmoil manifesting at precisely 12:07 each night when a colossal, ancient yew tree monster (voiced with gravelly warmth by Liam Neeson) awakens to visit him. Through three allegorical, watercolor-animated fables, the creature challenges Conor's black-and-white view of morality, demanding that Conor ultimately confront and speak his own painful, hidden truth in exchange. Blending striking visual artistry, poignant performances, and a profound examination of grief, guilt, and emotional acceptance, the film explores the painful transition from childhood into emotional maturity.

Not only all the stories are messy and dark but they are awfully clean as well, this will tuck you right into sleep. A Monster Calls Bayona is so focused, so invested in his characters that he might not even consider where they reside in. And frankly, he shouldn't, definitely not if this self-centered vision of his pitches a good assumption land for us to flex our muscles. The writer and director J.A. Bayona is famous for creating his views on the horror genre. Yet, I never felt him scare me. Yes, he does keep the camera up close to the events occuring, no matter how cringe worthy. And on that note what I think he does best is blend the practicality of a situation along with his fictional innuendos, that then pushes to a train of scary thoughts. For neither in this film, nor in Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, could he water me down with his brilliant camera work. But in Lo Imposible, his silent pitches on the screen are impeccable. Hence, all the cliched emotional impact that we are spinning in, actually works more than the monstrous therapy sessions; which by the way is more engaging and fun to go through. And this is where you know Bayona's tricks are working. Just watch Sigourey Weaver take in all the damage done by Lewis MacDougall. Your heart starts skipping as you are unaware of where all this has been or is leading towards. And after that act, the film grows clear. Similar to all the tales narrated and all different tracks going parallel-y this one remains the crux of the theme, and whispers everything in that bubble. More to it, the close up shot works also on amplifying the performance and their ticks to get us completely immersed in this fantasy world. A Monster Calls and you have to answer, that part has always been the subtextual gist of all the horrors, in here it is a loud- like in bold and in capitals- metaphor.

Meh! I thought it would be better with the cast but it wasn't. Super depressing. I do believe the last 5 minutues was very well acted.

I have an umbelievably negetive bias against this movie. The same kind I have for bridge to terabithia. For starters I went in blind into this film with only a trailer. To get the positives out of the way, good image, good acting, good effects. So, 3 for the objective things. Back to the reason I dislike such films. I was expecting to see a more dramatic monster movie. Unfortunately its only the dramatic part thats true. The monster is some sort of an alegory or imaginary friend. To the film's credit it was not bait and switch, like, terabithia was. I had hoped that this movie was going to be a monster movie even partially. It was not. My feeling towards it would be no different if I knew exactly what the film was about.