A Monster Calls

"I remember being a kid and wanting a giant creature to help me out during difficult times. I suspect it’s a common fantasy, with films like Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro and Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are tapping into the active imaginations of children. But what if you’re moving from childhood to adolescence? And what if your struggles aren’t as simple as good triumphing over evil? A Monster Calls explores the darkest of grey areas experienced at a tender age, creating a cinematic masterwork in visualised empathy."

"A splendidly rendered, yet oddly ill-conceived terminal-illness melodrama that feels much too dark and serious for audiences Conor's age, and an even more curious fit for grown-ups."

"There's a truly monstrous film lurking in here somewhere, but Bayona seems hell-bent on keeping it at bay."

"The movie delivers its meaning repeatedly to make sure that no one misses the point; its lessons, rendered even more explicitly than the ones in Conor's classroom, are missing only the chalkboard and pointer."

"If you prefer to view dying as a natural part of life, a step in a cycle, this film will feel discordant and perhaps counterproductive. But visually it will certainly stick with you, and your children."

"Starts to fall apart the moment we ask just how the metaphor is meant to function."

"Evocative, mysterious and shot through with bruising humour and heartbreak, A Monster Calls-with a deeply-felt performance from Felicity Jones- gets you where you live. There's real magic in it."

""Monster" is almost too ambitious to be completely realised. But when it works, which is most of the time, its story has a power which lingers in the mind."

"A sensitive and beautifully made lesson in the limits and power of storytelling."

"The resolution to Conor’s inner turmoil is itself satisfying and as complex as one could hope, especially for a kids’ movie."