Review of Billy Elliot (2000) by Kenneth L — 26 Dec 2010

This is a very engaging, likable movie. It works mostly because of its strong, simple but appealing story. It's about an 11-year-old working-class lad in a North England mining town in 1984 who wants to be a ballet dancer.

Not that he's gay - the movie points out that he is indeed straight - but he simply likes ballet, and has an aptitude for it. The story feels a bit familiar; there are no real surprises here, as the movie stays pretty well within the conventions of sports/kid-with-a-dream movies.

It's just that it handles those conventions quite well with convincing characters. Jamie Bell, who was 13 when he filmed the part, is quite good as Billy, and handles the multiple dance scenes like a hyperactive young Fred Astaire.

Julie Walters, also known these days as Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, is very good as Billy's teacher, never without a cigarette in hand even as she is teaching a ballet class. Gary Lewis makes for a very sympathetic working stiff.

Jean Heywood makes a lot out of her few moments as Billy's old grandmother. The movie makes great use of musical cues and montages, mostly to show Billy practicing his ballet. The plot becomes a little unnecessarily murky at points where the screenplay should have been clearer, but for the most part the movie manages to tell its story straightforwardly and well.

Its messages about being true to yourself and so on are conventional but nevertheless affecting. I think director Stephen Daldry's later The Hours is a better-made movie, but this one has the kind of accessible story everyone will like.

The movie is rated R, but that's only because the characters say the word "fuck" sometimes. I watched it with my 13-year-old sister and she really enjoyed it. Despite the R rating, I would recommend this movie for any reasonably mature kids ages 12 and up, and for any grown-ups, too.