Gospel97
Conor, a young kid living with his ill mother, has to take care of her by himself as she gets worse. He also has to deal with the appearance of his grandmother, who wants to take care of her daughter, and the appearance of a mysterious monster that likes telling him stories...Absolutely heartbreaking. The bond between a mother and son is the main theme of the movie, and it's treated with such care and tenderness through the sad parts that it's impossible not to cry. I loved this movie, because it pictures those bad desires/thoughts that we humans get sometimes and that we don't want to get, and turns it into something beautiful and understandable. The acting of the child is impeccable. Even when working with such difficult themes, he manages to portray all the anguish and pain that this movie is about. Moreover, the animated parts of the movie are truly a work of art, and it's clear just with how much care they have been created. All in all, a masterpiece of a movie. Bayona, no matter what type of movie he creates, will always manage to grab your heart and break it into little pieces and make you like it.
Per Johnsen
I haven't seen him in his film debut, Pan, but after his absolutely eminent performance in A Monster Calls, there's no doubt - a new star calls for the actor's stardom sky. Lewis MacDougall's ability to bring one's emotional dephts into rare motions is simply astonishing. For the director and other cast to be working with this brilliant young actor must have been nothing but a special experience and a pleasure. The prestigious Sigourney Weaver does her best roles in a long time, and the excellent Felicity Jones shows again that she belongs up there, but MacDougall outshines them both, together with any other actor that I've seen in resent years. Yes, this is a good and absolutely well made film in so many ways, but it's really not necessary to say, because how could it possibly matter?
Páiric O'Corráin
A Monster Calls: A boy suffers bullying at school, his mother is seriously ill, he doesn't get on with his grandmother. All of this forces him into a fantasy world where a Monster Tree (played by Liam Neeson) comes to life and tells him three tales. As well as the tree being CGI/Animatronics, the Monster's tales are played out in animation.A moving, coming of age film which also contains adult themes and no, Neeson's acting wasn't wooden. 8/10.
elenapdgr
In fact both the title and the poster of this film are quite misleading. At first I thought it's just another fairy-tale-like story about a boy and a monster. Than I decided it's something more like mild horror story. However this picture is neither.What you'll see on your screens - is a beautiful and sad story about a kid trying to put up with inevitable. The kid with teared apart heart. The kid fighting and reconciling with his inner monster. The way the story line is presented appealed to me a lot. Half-fairy, half-real world shows us the world and situation through the boy's eyes. And no matter how gloomy, dark or sorrowful the atmosphere and plot could seem the end of the film is happy - the boy managed to accept the loss of his mother and to let her go... which was exactly the thing he tried to do all the film.
AD
