thefilmguy7 I came across this film from a review by Roger Ebert. I have grown to respect his opinions most of the time. It was also a big motivator to check out to see Christian Bale and John Hurt on screen together. I'm a fan of both of them. The film starts out well with a good introductory to Bale's character caring for his mouse which he must keep hidden from his step father. However the second the step father appears and comes across as a James Bond villain or Darth Vader, especially with the over bearing music, I began to get concerned. Evil step father's are often poorly portrayed in films and are over the top but this one takes the cake. It was just ridiculous. Pretty much every character was over the top and felt over exaggerated. You could make a drinking game off of how many times Bale cries in this film. It just seemed the director was stereotyping mentally challenged people as crying a lot. Even John Hurt, arguably one of the best Shakespearean actors of all time, looks weak in this film. Of course it isn't the actors faults. We all know that Bale and Hurt are amazing talents. It's clearly the fault of an inexperienced director who definitely has not learned the art of subtlety. The concept was interesting and could have lead to a good story in the right hands. In these hands though the narrative is unfocused and poses to be meaningful but in the end isn't. There are plot points that come up that are out of place and have no real point in the film. Towards the end of the film, the whole thing goes off of the deep end. We go into pure fantasy with the step father turning into the equivalent of a comic book super villain. He apparently has the strength of a few men, is unfazed by injury, and can punch through glass windows. It was just so ridiculous. There are so many directions this film could have gone in and they took the worst route imaginable. I really have nothing good to say about this movie other then that Christian Bale and John Hurt did an okay job given that they clearly had nothing to work with. Though it's interesting to look at Bale's performance in this and lay it beside his eerily comedic role in American Psycho, which came out only a year later. If you look at both performances side by side you can see that Bale has an incredible range.

gracefulily76 This movie is incredible. Christian Bale gives the most convincing, beautiful performance. He becomes Bobby. The story is so unique and really is for those motivated by compassion and love for the simple, and often under looked in society. The stepfather is evil incarnate, and I could almost not bear watching him. John Hurt is amazing in this as well. I loved this movie! This isn't a review, just me, expounding on my favorite actor, Christian Bale, and how in love I am with his work. He brings it every time! The scenery in this is gorgeous as well, of the English countryside. There is a scene towards the end when Bobby (Bale) starts crying over Mr. Summers and it is magnificent. He is so believable. Good triumphs over evil. It is a bit twisted at times, but you have to watch this with the spirit of justice in mind. This is a story of love, and the power of the simple, the "unpowerful" in our world's eye.

Ray Girvan I think "All the little animals" is meant to be a moral parable, but its moral stance is fairly paranoid. Good = the confused Bobby, a few dreadlocked travellers, and the usual John Hurt misanthropist who befriends him. Bad = just about everyone else (stepfather, crooked doctor, unsympathetic male nurse, trucker who runs down foxes, Yuppie lepidopterist, car drivers, etc). Is no-one normal in this world? That said, it's a satisfying revenge story; De Winter (aka "The Fat"), played by Daniel Benzali rather in the style of Richard Burton, is a wonderfully memorable villain who terrifies Bobby not by violence or anger but by ultra-controlled mindgames. The film is based on the first novel by the late Walker Hamilton, and I suspect that it's based in a personal mythology - family issues, perhaps - that we'll never know.

Angst-2 I truly wanted to like this film. I'm a Hurt fan, and the concept appealed to me, but... it just doesn't work.None of the performances are bad, but the plot is silly. Towards the end the implausibility approaches comedy, and this is not helpful.I am not proud to have watched this film.