Review: A Monster Calls

A frequently bullied young boy (Lewis MacDougall) with a terminally ill mother (Felicity Jones) and mostly absent father (Toby Kebbell) is visited by a giant tree monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) stating it has come to tell the boy three stories and that he in turn will tell the monster a fourth. Sigourney Weaver plays the boy’s rather cold grandmother, whilst Geraldine Chaplin is a school principal.

For quite a while I couldn’t put my finger on why this 2017 fantasy film from director  J.A. Bayona (“The Orphanage”, the gruelling “The Impossible”) wasn’t working for me. The basic elements could’ve and should’ve been really interesting, appealing, and heart-tugging. In execution here…they left me completely cold. I thought surely this must be the case of a poor adaptation of source material that likely would’ve been vastly superior. However, the screenplay is written by author Patrick Ness himself. And then it eventually hit me, I saw potential in the basic elements here for a pretty good reason: They’ve all been pilfered from other films before it. There isn’t much of an original bone in the film’s body, outside of some of the more psychological and darker elements which frankly is a bit lumpy anyway. I don’t think the film ever quite gets around to figuring all of that stuff out cleanly. Which is a shame, because handled better it could’ve potentially saved the film.

I won’t deny that the mother/son relationship here got my waterworks going a bit, but that’s entirely because I lost a very close relative when I was 15 and could personally relate. Therefore cancer earns my tears, not the film. Seriously, cancer can go and get fucked right now. Sorry, but the film is ultimately pretty dull, though young Lewis MacDougall does fine work (playing such a hard luck case that would make even Oliver Twist feel fortunate), and Felicity Jones is terrific whenever around. It just reminded me of too many other things without forging its own original path to stand out. You’ll find elements of “The BFG”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “The NeverEnding Story”, the works of JRR Tolkien, the vastly underrated “Hugo”, a straight “Time Bandits”, and several others I could name. The animation sure is striking though, it’s the most original thing in the entire film. The animated segments in the film are really striking and for me unexpected, whilst Liam Neeson’s vocal performance is pitch-perfect as well. The monster itself is an interesting Tolkien-esque CGI creation, too. I was quite disappointed with Sigourney Weaver however, she seems to be focussing too much on nailing an English accent (which she almost does), that she forgets to act. I guess her two-dimensional role doesn’t help, either.

Although there are some fine elements here, including several good performances, this is ultimately a frustrating and disappointing film. Far too many familiar beats stop this story from standing out from the pack. After a while I found myself rather bored. It looks great, it’s really not great. This isn’t a bad film, but it’s the kind of film I really hate because you feel it should’ve worked. That said, many people love it. Judge it for yourself.

Rating: C