A Monster Calls (2016)

Conor is having a bad time. Bullied at school, suffering a recurrent nightmare, and trying to cope with his mother's progressive illness, he is visited at night by a monster tree-man from the yew tree in the local churchyard who tells him three stories, and expects the true story of Conor's nightmare in return.This film takes Conor's real-life problems - very real, and all centred around his mother's illness - and smashes them face-first into the fantasy figure of the tree monster and his stories, fearsome and compassionate at the same time. This may not sound terribly convincing, but it works extremely well.The story came from a writer who died of the cancer which inspired her story before she was able to write the book: the author who worked her idea into a (childrens) book has also written the screenplay, and the stories-within-the-story are animated in the style of the watercolour illustrations in the original book. And this is some of the most beautiful animation you will see anywhere. Coupled with the CGI tree-man, there are some exquisite visuals on show here, interwoven seamlessly with the rather shabbily picturesque locations.Felicity Jones is good as the stricken mother, Sigourney Weaver does a brilliant job as the unsympathetic grandmother rather gracelessly making plans to take care of Conor afterwards, while dealing with her daughter's imminent death, a death which Conor is having such difficulty facing. Liam Neeson as the voice of the monster is amazingly good, and Lewis McDougal as Conor is stunning.All of which contributes to the emotional impact of this film, which is brutal. There is no niceness about what happens here, but it is dealt with compassionately and kindly as well as painfully. I sat in the darkness weeping as Grandma and Conor finally find a way to meet each other in a car stopped at traffic lights, and also as the Monster finally rips the truth of Conor's nightmare out of him. And as for the photograph of Mum and her father...This film hurt like hell, and I loved it.

A young boy is having visions of a tree like monster that visits him at night. The visitations coincide with him being bullied at school and his strained relationship with his mother and grandmother.The characters, effects, production and story are all great! You really get sucked into the life of the main character and there are quite a few anxious scenes where he is trying to come to terms his life.The monster dispenses some short stories in cartoon format which helps break up the relatively bleak and slow real action.I didn't find there to be many surprises but although I could see what was coming up ahead when the movie got there I was still gripped.This is an excellent movie, however, I don't think it is a spoiler to say that this film is not a barrel of laughs and it is quite slow.Watch this on a big TV with the sound turned up to get the most of the monster scenes.

In an imaginary world a monster comes to aid a kid to deal with his personal grief and makes him leave childhood behind.This moving story is deployed in a fairish atmosphere, which strongly reminded me of del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth": a bitter pill to swallow but with a cleansing aftertaste. Rarely such a feeling of catharsis overwhelms the audience. Protagonist is a little child who must cope with his mother's terminal illness. A monster awakes, the two worlds come together and the kiddo is challenged to discover the seemingly horrible, yet human truth inside him. A definite must, just a word of caution, however: prepare some tissues, and make sure you are not barely making it through a depressive phase in life.

The classic mistake of parents who simply never learn to communicate. Particularly in preparing a child for death.I am sure that the book must be amazing. I am sure that the author poured himself into this story. But this movie is just woeful. Yes, the tree is sensational, the special effects and particularly the fables and the animation utterly fascinating and wonderful.But the actors are WOODEN... unbelievably so... so much that I couldn't care less who lived, who died, who did what... Not only did the boy want it to be over but I couldn't WAIT FOR THIS BORING MOVIE TO BE OVER.Again, I'm sure the book is good but this isn't. 3 stars for the terrific stuff that had no real people in it.