I have to say I was looking so foward to seeing this film. The concept is wonderful. It's too bad the last 15 minutes are about the worst ending I have ever seen. A pleasant story of two lost souls with a common love of animals and the natural world. Suddenly it turns into some gangster horror flick. Complete with car chases, kidnapping and blood. It's as if this ridiculous ending mocks the entire film. As someone who deeply identified with both Bobby and Mr. Summers it was an outrage that this story would take this sensational, unbelievable turn.
beautiful and real
This film is visually stunning and a must see for animal lovers. It seems to be presented through Bobby's eyes which makes it refreshingly innocent and very honest. I attribute any fairytale-like moments to be the way Bobby really saw them in his childish way. It is a movie the likes of which I don't see very often. It makes no attempts to please it's audience by adding stupid things to the plot in an effort to make it more exciting. Christian Bale is amazing and unbelievably convincing. The fact that he does not overplay Bobby's disability as many actors would, adds to the brilliance of this piece.
"You'll rot there with all the other loonies."
Bobby Platt (Christian Bale) is the surviving heir to the Platt department store and the fortune that accompanies it. When Bobby's mother dies, he's left in the care of his stepfather Bernard de Winter (Daniel Benzali) also known as 'the Fat'. Thanks to a childhood head injury, Bobby isn't 'normal', and his nasty stepfather tries to take advantage of Bobby by pressuring him to sign away his inheritance. Bobby resists, and his stepfather reacts cruelly. Frightened and confused, Bobby runs away into the countryside. Here he meets a peculiar hermit, Mr. Summers (John Hurt) who's dedicated to protecting wildlife and burying road kill. Bobby relates to Summers as they share similar values.
The film's breathtaking scenery and superior acting elevate the film from its somewhat mediocre plot. Hurt is an incredible actor, and I have tremendous respect of his abilities. However, Bale's performance is the truly noteworthy element in this film. The film is allegorical, and as such it also gains a curiosity factor. Allegory just isn't fashionable any more, and often justifiably so. The allegorical elements are interesting, but not enough to really energize my interest beyond the lukewarm.
On the negative side, for about the first third of this film, I had the feeling that I was watching some sort of perverse version of "Annie". You may remember that film--little orphan redhead adopted by shiny bald millionaire, Daddy Warbucks. In "All the Little Animals", the nasty stepfather looks like Daddy Warbuck's long-lost evil twin brother. That unavoidable fact, combined with the whole orphan thing, tainted my viewing. In addition, the ending was a huge disappointment for me. The film really had some interesting things to say about human isolation--those of us who do not relate well to other humans often relate extremely well to animals. The film illustrates the healing effects of animal companionship. On the reverse side, of course, cruelty towards animals shows the shriveled side of human nature. This is all charming, etc, but the horribly violent ending while underscoring the film's basic message created an uglier film as a result. I found the ending implausible and out-of-place--displacedhuman.
Metroland, based on Julian Barnes's first novel, is a tale of midlife, middle-class malaise reminiscent of Ang Lee's The Ice Storm. It's 1977, and shaggy-haired thirtysomething Chris (Christian Bale) has a lovely wife (Emily Watson) and baby, a solid office job, and a nice house in the London suburb of Metroland. Life is good, until the surprise arrival of old chum Toni (Lee Ross), whom Chris has not seen for 10 years and who was his accomplice in teenage shenanigans and heady visions of a bohemian life abroad. Toni, an inveterate ladies man and rootless poet, disdains his old friend's bourgeois milieu and feels it his duty to revive Chris's passion for women, art, and rock & roll. Meanwhile, Chris can't stop fantasizing about his steamier days as a 20-year-old in Paris with... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Christian Bale - Lee Ross - Emily Watson Director(s): Philip Saville DVD Release Date: Released the 22 July 2003 Usually ships within 24 hours
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"Royal Deceit" is an interesting if uneven movie, telling a Danish tale of regicide and revenge that is similar to "Hamlet". The filmmakers have opted for authenticity in the costumes and props and a kind of Passion Play style of acting and direction, with mixed results. While the sheer acting power and amazing charisma of Christian Bale as the Prince, Helen Mirren as his mother, and Gabriel Byrne as the corrupt king, is mesmerizing, their excellent work is frequently undermined by an underwritten and wandering script and occasionally laughable direction. The battle scenes are staged as if being acted on-stage in a small theater-in-the-round, an odd choice given that they are filmed in the great outdoors. Large warriors trot around on tiny moorland ponies to unavoidably comic effect, and... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Gabriel Axel DVD Release Date: Released the 05 August 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Except for feature-length animation, the musical has gone the way of the dinosaur. The Walt Disney company took a stab at reviving the live-action musical in 1992 with Newsies, a throwback picture with a curious subject. In 1899, the pint-sized newsboys delivering the New York papers go on strike against the unfair practices of news magnates Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The production is heavy on kiddie humor, although Christian Bale (the child star of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun) is charismatic as one of the older leaders of the revolt. The adult stars don't fare as well, with Robert Duvall doddering around as Pulitzer and Ann-Margret and Bill Pullman doing decorative duty. The film was not well received when first released, but hindsight reveals its charm... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Kenny Ortega DVD Release Date: Released the 15 January 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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This strange movie with a niche subject--jazz-loving, dance-loving German kids persecuted by Hitler's men--almost works, thanks to a good cast who seem devoted to the unusual story line. Director Thomas Carter doesn't bring the necessary stylistic oomph to the musical sequences, something that might have pushed the whole production to another, more interesting level of Hollywood dream. Kenneth Branagh makes a particularly effective, wolf-in-sheep's-clothing Nazi official. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Robert Sean Leonard - Christian Bale Director(s): Thomas Carter (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 03 September 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A broad science fiction thriller in a classic vein, Equilibrium takes a respectable stab at a Fahrenheit 451-like cautionary fable. The story finds Earth's post-World War III humankind in a state of severe emotional repression: If no one feels anything, no one will be inspired by dark passions to attack their neighbors. Writer-director Kurt Wimmer's monochromatic, Metropolis-influenced cityscape provides an excellent backdrop to the heavy-handed mission of John Preston (Christian Bale), a top cop who busts "sense offenders" and crushes sentimental, sensual, and artistic relics from a bygone era. Predictably, Preston becomes intrigued by his victims and that which they die to cherish; he stops taking his mandatory, mood-flattening drug and is even aroused by a doomed... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Christian Bale - Sean Bean - Taye Diggs - Emily Watson DVD Release Date: Released the 13 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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