A Monster Calls is a new movie about a boy going through problems who imagines up a monster voiced by Liam Neeson. The monster helps him with his problems – which, based on the trailer, seem to bullies. But, hey, his real problem is that his mom is dying of cancer. So the movie is just full of fun… if by fun you mean horrendously sad and depressing.
The acting in this flick is great… the actor playing the kid pulls off a tough job of moving between anger, fear, and sadness. Sigourney Weaver is his grandmother, Felicity Jones is his mom, and Liam Neeson kills it as the monster. And the monster, who appears to be Groot’s daddy, is a pretty amazing visual effect.
I state all this up front because it’s the only thing that I can really be sure about this movie. I’m not sure if I hate this movie or respect it… because it’s a movie that means well but there’s part of me that thinks it’s a cynical flick that covers a film about the tragic death of a mom with a CGI veneer that’s, what? supposed to make the movie more palatable to children? And I’m not sure if children could handle this movie with the dying mom. Older kids, sure.
I’d have hated, hated, hated this movie if its sob-story veneer was standard-issue surfaced level generic… but the movie’s ultimate message is far more complex than something like, “love is good, have hope, etc.” The script knows that grief and the dying process can be more complicated than “sad” and the kid learns lessons that are not nearly so simple. So little kids probably wouldn’t get that message, much less they’d probably be shattered by this depression-fest.
The monster teachers the kids lessons via three messed up and weird stories the film depicts in animated sequences. The kid then tells the monster his own secret – his nightmare – and that’s where the extra layer of emotional depth comes in. So I can’t hate the movie because it’s trying… yet I had little patience with its attempt to… do something… using a CGI monster… because people don’t want to see a movie about dead moms. Right?
I know I felt fooled as I was sitting through this gut-punch of a movie. Maybe if I’d realized the premise going in, it wouldn’t have bothered me. And maybe I should have known – it is based on a book I haven’t read. Not sure how popular it is.
Anyhow, this is a very well-acted, good looking film that means well but maybe didn’t need its fantastical elements. I think its important to know this is a grief-filled film with a more complicated ultimate message about death and the dying process on the living. I can’t hate the film and if I’d been more into it, I’d probably have loved it. As is, it’s good… with a warning.
Score: 82