calorne A not uninteresting story about a boy engaging in a difficult reality of parental ill health and problems at school, who is drawn into a fantastical segway with a tree monster who tells him three tales with a rider that the boy must respond with one of his own. (I felt short-changed by the third tale).The film did not flow seamlessly enough for my taste. I found it stilted and perhaps that is why I felt unconvinced by it at times.I did like the review from another contributor who mentioned that the film made her dog cry. (Perhaps her canine felt that sticks could be put to better use?).

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?

suchetadburman Belief is half of all healing! Wow! This movie is so beautiful!

Gavin Purtell 'A Monster Calls' has almost nothing to do with a monster - at it's heart, it's a straightforward story about a 12-year-old boy dealing with grief, with help from an imaginary friend. It's from Bayona, the director of 'The Impossible' (another very good survival drama), so it will be interesting to see what he does with 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'. The film centers around Conor (MacDougall), a quiet kid who loves to draw, who has a sick Mum (Jones) and a stern Grandma (Weaver). At 12:07am each night, he has a dream/nightmare where he hears a tree-monster calling him.Filmed in Manchester, there's plenty of rain and opportunities for spooky shadows and scares, but the beauty is in the benevolent twist taken on the Groot-like "monster" (Neeson), who is obviously Conor's way of dealing with his mum's cancer. The watercolour animations set to Neeson's storytelling is excellently done, with some nice morals thrown in to the "dreams" Conor has when the "monster" is present.It never gets too fantastic or unrealistic, with MacDougall successfully carrying a great load for such a young actor. He's helped expertly by Jones & Weaver, who have very significant, but relatively small, roles. It's not sad the entire film, but it really hits home for the final 15min and did not leave a dry eye in the cinema.