‎A Monster Calls (2016) directed by J. A. Bayona • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

A Monster Calls

2016 Directed by J. A. Bayona

Stories are wild creatures.

A boy imagines a monster that helps him deal with his difficult life and see the world in a different way.

Lewis MacDougall Sigourney Weaver Felicity Jones Toby Kebbell Liam Neeson Geraldine Chaplin Jennifer Lim James Melville Lily-Rose Aslandogdu Dominic Boyle Max Gabbay Oliver Steer Ben Moor Frida Palsson

108 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Weird GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY prequel about how the tree man helps young Star Lord deal with his mom dying.
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 12

Pan's Labyrinth for kids dealing with cancer. dark, dull, and didactic, but could be helpful to those in need. do yourself a favor and see KUBO instead.

and now, the unfairness: my dad died of cancer a few months ago. this film gets a lot of the inner turmoil right (and crucially so), but if your cancer-related tearjerker does nothing for me at this point... that's on you.
Review by Evan ★★★½ 3

TIFF 2016 Film #13

A Monster Calls touched the depths of my soul. Visually stunning, well acted, and filled with emotion this film had me fully engaged. I was pretty much in tears the entirety of the final 20 minutes and so was everyone else. You could hear the sniffling echoing through out the theater. I won't spoil it, but this one line absolutely wrecked me to my core. While most of the emotion is earned, I will say that it is somewhat manipulative.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 4

A fantasy about the all-too real ways humans deal with loss, Juan Antonio Bayona's "A Monster Calls" offers a cinematic heart that beats with anger, sadness, and inspiring vigor. Based on Patrick Ness's novel, the film the tells the story of a young boy whose struggle with life and loss reflect the universal education that is human existence.

Revolving around young Conor O'Malley, "A Monster Calls" finds the boy dealing with school bullies, a cantankerous grandmother, and, most importantly, a dying mother. Conor spends his days caring, as best he can, for his mother, drawing, and recoiling from both literal and figurative nightmares. When a monstrous, lumbering tree with fiery eyes appears at his window, Conor begins a journey that…
Review by Steve G ★★★★ 4

My 9 year old daughter's enthusiasm for seeing A Monster Calls after being rather excited by the trailers for it we had seen wasn't quite treated to the tale about a friendly talking tree that saves a boy from being bullied that she hoped it would be.

"That wasn't quite what I expected," she commented as we exited the cinema. "But it was really, really good!"

The fact that she spent practically the whole film perched on the edge of her seat was clue enough to me that she really enjoyed it, and understandably so. It's not quite like any film she had watched before or that we had watched together (we watch one together every Saturday, at the cinema…
Review by CJ Probst ★★★★ 7

All those years ago I remember sitting in the theater watching The Lord of the Rings, looking around and thinking, "Man, I really don't love these as much as everyone else in here." I recognized them as a spectacular achievement but was rather bored through them, just not for me. My least favorite parts of those films were the talking tree scenes. Every time one of those tedious bastards showed up that was my cue to shuffle my way out of the auditorium for a piss.

Sooooooo, A Monster Calls felt a little bit like an Ent trying his goddamned hardest to make me cry for just under two hours. As I was at a bit of a disadvantage due…

Recent reviews

Review by Rebecca ★★★★

This was kinda better than I was expecting. The book is great and the film almost lives up to it. The art and the animation in the story sections was beautiful (though I'd say only the 1st story is good, I don't really agree with the 2nd story and the 3rd was barely anything at all), the acting was mainly good, and it made me cry a lot so that's good I guess??
Review by Mark Oppenlander ★★★½

Death takes a toll, not just on the dying person, but also on those around them. And that cost can be steep. Children may be especially hard hit.

“A Monster Calls” tells the tale of Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall), a 12 year old boy in England, whose mother (Felicity Jones) suffers from a terminal cancer. As her health worsens, Conor struggles to cope. His father (Toby Kebbel) has divorced his mother and now lives in the US, and Conor must support his mom with only the help of his strict grandmother (Sigourney Weaver). He struggles in school and finds himself the object of bullying. One night at 12:07 a.m., a giant yew tree (voice of Liam Neeson) uproots itself from…
Review by George Hickman ★★★½

I lost my mom to cancer about a week before this film premiered at Tiff and I've been at least passively avoiding this ever since. Well thanks to the magic of someone else telling me what to watch I've now seen it and it's fine. The stuff with the monster works the best. Most of the stuff at school all feels a little flat. The third act is by far the best part, but even that couldn't bring the kind of emotional devastation its reputation suggests.
Review by 𝔽.𝕃.𝔽 🦊 ★★★★

'온전히 착한 사람은 없다. 순수한 악도 없지'

어느 쪽이 옳을까?
온전하지 않은 착한 사람인가, 순수하지 않은 악인가.
Review by Smoreni Zmaj ★★★★½

So good it hurts

Damn movie... I fell apart crying like a baby.

"Humans are complicated beasts. You believe comforting lies while knowing full well the painful truth that makes those lies necessary."

9/10
Review by 천없 ★★★½

Messily ever after becomes all right from the point that he admits there's no happily ever after. He has to learn to let go, of his fears.

19:40 MegaBox COEX 2
Review by Tramel Blu ★★★

A fantasy drama about grief that works for the most part even if it feels off at times.
Review by mrbootle ★★★★★

The young lad in this is incredible. Amazing film.
Review by Aristaeus ★★★★★

A story about how we deal with death and the need to acknowledge our feelings about it.

Connor O'Malley is frequently visited by the titular monster, who will tell him three stories before forcing him to tell the truth behind his recurring nightmare.

These stories turn out to be highly relevant to Connor's ongoing struggles with his personal life, including a mother going through cancer treatments, a grandmother with whom he cannon connect, an absent father. Etc. Etc.

I personally guarantee that once Connor's truth is revealed, this film will have broken you emotionally.

11 Liam Treesons/10.

Now go and call your mother. You know you need to. Yes you at the back. She misses you.