Very disappointed. Thoughts inside.

I disagree on about every level. I thought it was one of those movies I couldn't imagine someone watching without tearing up. I thought it was wonderfully done, emotional and beautiful. It was heavy handed with its themes, but it worked on me. I was a sobbing mess by the end.

I disagree entirely, by I respect your opinion. There's some people that just don't connect with the movie, while there are others that do. Me? I loved it, it was my most anticipated film of the year, and it actually met my expectations.

I'm genuinely curious as to what exactly you were expecting because in my opinion I thought everything was done spot on. How did you not feel the emotional journey that Connor was going through. The lad acting was really good in portraying the struggle and guilt he was feeling as well as the anger of the situation. There were odd moments between Connor and the monster which were slight humour so how was it lifeless. Hell, the first time he visits his mum in the hospital - what she says to him - that was not lifeless. That was really emotional, never mind the ending which was double.

Yeah I'm kinda with ya. I'm a sucker for these kind of films, and based what I myself have just gone through less than two years ago, I'm VERY sympathetic to how this kid feels. There's one scene I didn't even want to look at because of that, so it's not like it's a lack of empathy for the main character.

It was just that the connective tissue between the stories being told by The Monster and everything else wasn't really there for me. The bully subplot is basically useless, and I never really felt he "got" the messages of the three stories even on a subconscious level. Like he didn't get them on a surface level but subconsciously he's acting out in ways that show that he does, so eventually by the end that lightbulb in his head goes off like "Ohhhhhh, I see."

But that's another thing about this movie, too. There's too much telling and not enough showing. The Cardinal Sin of filmmaking (and just storytelling in general, TBH). The Monster kept flat out telling him the moral of the stories without letting him figure it out on his own, instead kinda just repeating the same beats in the non-fantasy parts. It kinda gets repetitive and boring after a while, even with a situation that should be hitting you right in the heart.

It came around a bit at the end, I suppose, but even still. There was probably a better way to tell this story on film. Or maybe it's one of those cases where it just works better as a novel. I dunno. Either way, I walked out underwhelmed too.

Unfortunately, when a movie doesn't quite work for someone because they couldn't make an emotional connection to it, that's just so highly personal that it only becomes meaningful in the aggregate.

Nor does the percentage of people who can connect emotionally equate to how good the film is. A film that leaves 90% of viewers somewhat cold but reduces 10% to puddles of emotional jelly is obviously not a bad film. It's just one with limited appeal.

Creative artists often have little idea how broad the emotional appeal of their work will be. The people who choose stories for publication or film distribution often are surprised as well.

Having said that, obviously it's better to connect widely than narrowly.

I saw it today, and at one point I overheard a woman siting a few seats to my left say "I don't think I'm the only person crying." I smiled, because I was crying, but not audibly.

The critical and audience reactions so far indicates your response is in the minority. It has a 7.6 average score at Rotten Tomatoes and 7.8 rating here. That puts it in the top 25 films of the year for consensus positive response.

I thought it was the best fantasy-employing movie since 2008's The Fall (and I've basically seen them all). I may see it again Thursday with a group of friends.

Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.

I also have to disagree. I was surprised at the maturity of the way this movie tells its story of a kid learning the hard truths that await him in adulthood. I loved the way Bayona is able to use his talents in visual horror to really show the emotional turmoil going on in this kids head and the use of animation to tell the tales, and how those tales each come as teaching tools. I'm someone who lost a parent at a young age and i'm also someone who has probably learned the most in life from watching stories play out on screen so both really got to me. Also I thought the performances here were excellent.

Trying to create a channel based on interpreting, reviewing, and even giving you something to laugh about film. Hope you enjoy what you see. Thanks in advance.

Review of the film here-https://youtu.be/ZxZwCR72QvA

I also left the movie extremely disappointed. Actually I'd go as far as to say I hated it. And not because of the story. I think the story is amazing and something that everyone should watch as they might just learn a thing or two ("you would rather die than tell the truth", think this quote will stay with me forever).

I hated it because I think as a film making art, it's atrocious. Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones are totally wasted and the CGI makes the whole movie fall flat and left me emotionally detached. Throughout the movie the only thing I could think of is how great would it have been if this received The Neverending Story treatment. What if everything that happens in it is actual palpable objects like Neverending had instead of something that the brain can instantly recognize it's fake.

But I guess it's just my problem of being stuck in the 80's instead of being up to date with modern movie making.

If you disregard that A Monster Calls was based on a novel that needed to hit certain plot points due to its source material and judge it as a standalone film, a good 45 minutes to an hour of the movie felt unnecessary and added nothing to the story.

The performances were fine outside of a completely miscast Sigourney Weaver