Review of A Monster Calls (2016) by Ian G — 29 Jan 2017

A Monster Calls is a slam dunk childrens fable of sorts coming from Del Toro acolyte/mentee J.A. Bayona whose in line to direct the next Jurassic Park film, focusing on a little boy who is having difficulty coming to terms with the terminal diagnosis of his mother due to cancer, and starts to suffer from nightmares as his estranged father and grand mother come to support him.

Through daydreams of a Groot/Ent like creature voiced perfectly by Liam Neeson, Conner, the little boy, is able to shake his nightmares and find his voice as a means to deal with his grief over the course of the story and be able to mend fences and also deal with the bullies as well to come other the other side in a better place.

Some of the florishes for the tale are very reminicent of Del Toro and to a lesser extent elements of the Potter franchise is a very complementary way, and the boy who plays Connor is supported by strong performers ranging from Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver and Liam Neeson is strictly a vocal performance.

Wish it found a larger audience but unfortunately got pushed out rather quickly as a lot of the Oscar nomination films expanded once the announcements were made. Too bad, A Monster Calls deserved a much larger box office haul and here's hoping it finds one on streaming services.

A great gem.