A Monster Calls (2016)

[vavera4ka]

I don't see a thread for this movie and quick search returned nothing.

I saw this movie yesterday and I liked it a lot. It's sad that it receives so little marketing and word of mouth (no thread here too lol). I loved the look of the movie, art in it, message.

I blame promotion team, since I (not familiar with the book) thought that it was a kids movie about a bullied kid inventing a super hero. I'm glad I went to see it (even if with some initial negative bias).

The stories by the Monster were great: both in message and in the way they were done. I wish someone showed me this watercolor technique when I was a kid :)

The movie as a whole to me felt like a nod to Pan's Labyrinth by del Toro, though infinitely less dark. Later I found out that Bayona is del Toro's protégé. Not surprised at all! (now, see, if del Toro endorsed this movie I'd be there the opening weekend lol)

 

If you are a parent of a teenager (or a mature pre-teen) please PLEASE take your kid to this movie. It's sad and tough with the plot, but it's a great jolt to get a kid to stop thinking in terms of fairy tales (good/bad, right/wrong, black/white, etc) and start seeing grey areas of adult world.

[LauraAnders]

This is a very strange movie. If you are a parent, I would definitely recommend you see it first before allowing any children under ten to see it. I think it could easily cause nightmares and other emotional problems for young children.

I am very surprised after seeing this movie because it received a very good recommendation (7.6) from IMDB.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416532/

But I thought it was just terribly depressing and kind of stupid. It seems to be targeted towards young people. But the message it sends young people is very negative.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone found any good qualities about this movie. I was surprised that one of the stars was Sigourney Weaver. She seemed out of place in this mostly British cast.

Edited February 13, 2017 by LauraAnders

[Sara2009]

I thought the movie was very well-done, but I also loved the book, so I might be biased.

[LauraAnders]

10 hours ago, Sara2009 said:

I thought the movie was very well-done, but I also loved the book, so I might be biased.

Please feel free to tell me just why you liked it. I felt that I must not have understood it and I would very much like to understand just why people like it.  Did you not feel that it would scare the pants off young children?

Am I not correct in stating the central point of this film was that in order for children to live a happy life, they need to accept the fact their parents will die and they will never see them again?

If so, although that is true, isn't that a very depressing message to leave with a young person?

I didn't think they spent hardly any time telling kids about the good things in life and the joy they can have with their parents and the good things they can learn from them. It seems to me the entire message of this film is that life is just full of pain and suffering and they have to get used to that and accept that in order to carry on and live a happy life. Did I fundamentally misunderstand the message of this film?

Can you tell me how I can look at this movie so that I can find some way to explain it to my kids?

Edited February 13, 2017 by LauraAnders

[vavera4ka]

3 hours ago, LauraAnders said:

Am I not correct in stating the central point of this film was that in order for children to live a happy life, they need to accept the fact their parents will die and they will never see them again?

To me the main message was that kids need to learn and accept that life is not black and white, that it's ok to want the pain to go away, and it doesn't mean that you don't love your mom (in this case). There are shades to emotions, deeds, people that are associated with those.

"The boy who was too old to be a kid and too young to be an adult" was still perceiving life through "fairy tale format", but his situation was way too complicated for that, hence nightmares and self loathing.  

Like I wrote earlier, I feel like this movie (or a book, or both) is A MUST for early teens.

[LauraAnders]

1 hour ago, vavera4ka said:

To me the main message was that kids need to learn and accept that life is not black and white, that it's ok to want the pain to go away, and it doesn't mean that you don't love your mom (in this case). There are shades to emotions, deeds, people that are associated with those.

"The boy who was too old to be a kid and too young to be an adult" was still perceiving life through "fairy tale format", but his situation was way too complicated for that, hence nightmares and self loathing.  

Like I wrote earlier, I feel like this movie (or a book, or both) is A MUST for early teens.

I sincerely thank you for your explanation even though my point of view differs from your own. I'm afraid that if this movie was shown to my kids, they would not be anywhere sufficiently mature to understand and accept that explanation. Perhaps it would be different for older kids. Mine are 9 and 11 and I think they are just too young to be able to grasp the points you are making.

Alternatively, perhaps the difference in our interpretation lies in our opinions as to just how old kids must be in order to be able to accept your explanation. Maybe you and I just believe that children need to be of a different age before they can benefit from this film.

In any case, I would think that most children could handle this film if only they had a talk with their parents before watching this movie and the points you made were explained to them so that they understood.

In any event, I am grateful to you for answering my request in such a polite and dignified fashion. Many thanks.

Edited February 13, 2017 by LauraAnders

[vavera4ka]

Yes, I understand that it fully depends on the maturity level of the kids. Perhaps 9 and 11 would be a bit young. I was thinking maybe 13-14 give or take. Obviously as a parent you'll know if your child is ready for a message like that (hey not all adults are ready lol)

There has to be some kind of preparation, I agree with that too. I remember when I went to a summer camp in Poland when I was 9, the organizers took all of us (kids 6-14) to Auschwitz for a tour without consulting with our parents. I can't really say I was scarred for life, cause in Europe we are exposed to WWII topics quite early, but it was still a really tough thing to go through, and IMO at a wrong age. I only told my parents about it rather recently, in my late 20's and they said that had they known back then they would have taken it to organizers and created WWIII in their offices.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

So I rented this the other day hoping that my 9 year old son would watch with me.  I'd been wanting to see it since seeing the trailer some months ago but said son had no interest in joining me while it was in theatres and even declined joining me for the On-Demand viewing.  I am really pleased that he didn't join me.

This film is excellent but it wrecked me in a way that I can't remember ever happening with a movie.  I thought it was going to be a cool kid's movie but I was quite mistaken.  There's nothing childish about it---the marketers for this film really missed the mark aiming it at a kids demographic.  

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 2/13/2017 at 5:28 AM, LauraAnders said:

Am I not correct in stating the central point of this film was that in order for children to live a happy life, they need to accept the fact their parents will die and they will never see them again?

In my opinion, that isn't the central message at all. In the movie,

Conor's mother was very ill with what I presumed was cancer that had recurred, and he was having a hard time acknowledging that she wasn't going to get better. He knew it, maybe, but he just didn't want to admit it, because to admit it was to let her go. It wasn't that he "needed" to accept the truth, it was just that it was okay to acknowledge that he wanted her not to suffer anymore.