If you aren’t crying by the third act of “A Monster Calls,” you may need to have your heart checked.
Anyone who has experienced grief will be moved by author Patrick Ness’ story of a lonely 12-year-old boy and the massive woody monster that befriends him. Beautifully realized on screen by director J.A. Bayona, it’s a universal tale of how human beings cope with the pain from the death of a parent.
The award-winning 2011 novel was incredibly visual, and so the story is even more affecting on film. Ness adapted and expanded his work for the screen, introducing new elements that deepen the characters and enrich the tale. Bayona blends live-action with CGI and more traditional animation for a result that’s both contemporary and timeless. “A Monster Calls,” which considers children’s feelings to be as real and multifaceted as anyone else’s, deserves a place in the canon of artistic explorations of grief.
Young actor Lewis MacDougall brings heartbreaking earnestness to young Conor, whom the monster describes as “too old to be a kid, too young to be a man.” Liam Neeson provides the voice and a motion-capture performance to animate the computer-generated monster, an ancient yew tree come to life.
Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver give heartfelt performances as Conor’s sick mother and distant grandmother, but the story centers on the relationship between the boy and his monster.
“I have come to get you, Conor O’Malley!” the monster bellows into Conor’s bedroom window late one night. The giant creature says he is visiting to tell the boy three stories, and Conor should tell him a fourth.
“Who cares about stupid stories from a stupid tree that’s a dream?” the boy replies defiantly. He hardly has time for a monster, even one he may somehow have summoned. Conor is already dealing with plenty of trouble in his life: He’s bullied daily at school, and his mother is so sick that she seems weaker every day.
But the tree monster promises that “stories are wild creatures.” Though he looks scary (and little kids will likely find him frightening at first), he seems kind. The monster always comes after midnight, sharing fables about an evil queen, a heartless healer and an invisible man who demands to be seen.
Bayona expresses the magic of the monster’s stories through imaginative animation. When the monster starts spinning a yarn, the film shifts away from the muted, melancholy greens and browns of Conor’s everyday life into a palette of watercolors and animated cutouts. This tool distinguishes fantasy from reality, and for Conor, the monster is real. But it can’t save the boy from his sadness.
Instead, the monster gives Conor an outlet for his feelings, which helps him take down bullies and wreak destruction in his grandmother’s house. The adults around him reflect an unspoken understanding of Conor’s loss and frustration when they refuse to punish him. “What would be the point?” they say. His mother is dying — isn’t that punishment enough for anyone?
Kids feel grief as much as grown-ups, maybe more. When Conor is faced with the life-changing loss, his aid comes in the form of a wise tree monster. We should all be so fortunate as to have a kindly giant make it safe for us to explore life’s darkest moments.
‘A MONSTER CALLS’
3 ½ stars
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic content and some scary images)
Cast: Lewis MacDougall, Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, Geraldine Chaplin, Liam Neeson
Director: J.A. Bayona
Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes