A Monster Calls

Lewis MacDougall A Monster Calls

Cast: Lewis MacDougall, Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Geraldine Chaplin
Director: J.A. Bayona
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Rated: PG
Running Time: 108 minutes

Synopsis: Stories are the wildest things of all. – The Monster Directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible, The Orphanage), A Monster Calls is a visually spectacular and stunningly emotional drama based on the award winning novel. The screenplay adaptation is by the book's author, Patrick Ness. Ness wrote the novel from an original idea by the late Siobhan Dowd.

12-year-old Conor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is about to escape into a fantastical world of monsters and fairy tales. He is dealing with his mother's (Felicity Jones) illness, which has necessitated Conor's spending time with his less-than-sympathetic grandmother (Sigourney Weaver). His daily existence at his UK school is one of academic disinterest and bullying by classmates. As Conor's father (Toby Kebbell) has resettled thousands of miles away in the US, the boy yearns for guidance.

He unexpectedly summons a most unlikely ally, who bursts forth with terrifying grandeur from an ancient towering yew tree and the powerful earth below it: a 40-foot-high colossus of a creature (portrayed in performance-capture and voiceover by Liam Neeson) who appears at Conor's bedroom window at 12:07 one night – and at that time on nights thereafter. The Monster has stories to tell, and he insists that Conor hear them and powerfully visualise them. Conor's fear gives way to feistiness and then to looking within; for The Monster demands that once the tales are told it will be time for Conor to tell his own story in return. Ancient, wild, and relentless, the Monster guides Conor on a journey of courage, faith and truth.

A Monster Calls
Release Date: July 27th, 2017
Trailer

Review:  A Monster Call is a brilliant yet horribly sad film that evokes hope and honestly which will most likely end in tears, for all audiences. A Monster Call is a seriously genuine, heartfelt and profound film.

- Brooke Hunter