A Monster Calls is a movie based on a book by the same name and is about a young boy named Conor (Lewis MacDougal) whose mother (Felicity Jones) is terminally ill. Conor has a vivid imagination and spends a lot of his time drawing. One night while drawing, a tree (voiced by Liam Neeson) in the cemetery near his house comes alive and tells Connor he will visit him each night and tell him a story and on the fourth night, Connor must tell the tree a true story. Other characters in the movie are Conor's grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) and his father (Toby Kebbell).
The first thing one must know about A Monster Calls is that it is extremely emotional, as one would expect when one of the main characters is terminally ill. This is one of the few movies that has got me to cry "ugly" tears. You know, the type of crying where it is hard to breath cause your throat is dry and swelling and tears are running down your face non-stop. This also isn't a movie where just the ending is emotional, there are multiple moments throughout the movie where I was in tears.
Another thing that must be known is how visually stunning this movie is. The tree monster effects are great and you feel like he is actually interacting with Conor in real life. Also when the tree monster is telling Conor the stories, the movie changes to this watercolor animation that beautifully shows these stories. I also found the set design to be fantastic, especially when Conor was with the tree monster in the cemetery. If you have seen the trailer, you would have seen these scenes where the ground in the cemetery is collapsing as well as the church there. I just loved the way these scenes looked.
I found the performances in this movie to be great. Lewis MacDougal does a wonderful job as Conor. During most of the movie Lewis must act along side a tree monster that is obviously not on set with him and he does a great job of convincing you that the monster is actually there. I can't imagine how hard it would to cry and yell at something that you can't actually see and Lewis does this in spectacular fashion. Felicity Jones is stunning as Conor's mother. Throughout the movie her character gets worse and worse and Felicity does a great job both physically and emotionally portraying those various stages. Initially you would think Sigourney Weaver's character would just be the evil grandmother, but Sigourney also brings this heartbreak to the character since it is her daughter that is dealing with this illness.
If I had to pick something I didn't like about A Monster Calls, it would have to be that there are a few things that Conor does that go unpunished and it kind of takes you out of the film. I found myself having a hard time believing that if someone were to actually do the things he does that they would not get a way with it. In the movie he just gets away with it because people know that he is going through a rough time with his mom.
I found A Monster Calls to be a beautiful movie. It is emotionally intense, looks fantastic and is wonderfully acted. A Monster Calls need to be seen and should be seen on the big screen, just remember to bring the kleenex.
4 out of 5 Stars
Expectations met? YES!
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