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

A Monster Calls

2016 Directed by Juan Antonio 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

Weird GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY prequel about how the tree man helps young Star Lord deal with his mom dying.
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 9

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 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…
Review by kyle97 ★★★★ 3

Wow I had very high expectations for this movie after reading Patrick Ness's novel and I was really impressed by how the movie turned out.

I’ve been a fan of J.A. Bayona since I saw The Orphanage, which is a great horror film. In A Monster Calls, Bayona’s creative vision complements the imaginations of Patrick Ness, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie, very well. This is a very compelling drama with fantastical elements that work on a metaphorical level. As a film about terminal illness, bullying, and anger, A Monster Calls never came off to me as emotionally manipulative or overwrought. Some parts of the movie are told through stunning water-colored animation, which genuinely makes for some stunning…

Recent reviews

Review by Mahan ★★★★

A beautiful and surprisingly powerful story about the beauty and surprising power of storytelling.

Full review: betwixtstarproductions.blogspot.com/2017/08/movie-review-monster-calls-2017.html
Review by Mohammed Khaled ★★★★

‏فيلم جميل ومؤثر، اداء رائع من لويس ماكدوجال و فيليستى جونز و صوت الوحش من ليام نيسون فخم.
Review by holymanben1 ★★★½

This was a good movie just a little confusing at parts.
Review by Daniel Benneworth-Gray ★★

Expected so much more. Lacking any kind of story or fable or magic or anything. Had potential to be something like Pan's Labyrinth, but just ended up as "here's some sad stuff being sad and an Ent and Sigourney Weaver for some reason".
Review by Nancydrewfan11 ★★★★½

A heart wrenching, but beautiful story. I'm really glad I rewatched this, as everything was much clearer and I was able to pick up several of the details. I personally believe this should have been nominated for the best picture Oscar, if not also best supporting actress (Felicity Jones) and adapted screenplay. The story is emotionally intelligent and compelling.
Review by Eric Maus ★★★★½

Heart-breaking and beautiful.
Review by instntrelief ★★½

Average family flick with a crappy script.
Review by probertoj ★

División de opiniones en la platea de nuestro hogar, pero estos personajes me han importado menos que los del anuncio de Lotería de Navidad. Puede que incluso que menos que los del anuncio de cómicos de Campofrío.

Morphine en Cure for Pain decían millones de cosas más con muchísimos menos aspavientos.
Review by Chris dos Santos ★★★★

Finally making its way to Australia, A Monster Calls provides an extremely realistic look at how a child deals with death. It's been a while since a movie has made cry in the cinema, it's nice to see something that loves you emotionally. The movie does drag in bits and the dialogue in certain sections could have been stronger but over all the way it shows this kid dealing with his dying mother is so realistic I can forgive the movies weaker bits.

Groot tells story. B+