Review: 'A Monster Calls' dials up creature comfort

A Monster Calls dials up a nostalgic and superb coming-of-age journey that'll have audiences grabbing all the hankies.

Scottish newcomer Lewis MacDougall stars as a boy under a barrage of stressful situations — including having to deal with a cryptic tree creature — in the tearjerking drama (***1/2 out of four; rated PG-13; in New York and L.A. theaters Friday, nationwide Jan. 6) directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible). The filmmaker pulls noteworthy performances out of Felicity Jones and Sigourney Weaver in supporting roles, while Liam Neeson lends his grumbly vocals as the wooden monster. andMonster offers a cathartic study in overcoming loss and traversing the fine line between childhood and adulthood under tragic circumstances.

Trailer debut: Boy meets tree in 'A Monster Calls'

An embattled sort, young Conor (MacDougall) can't catch a break in any part of his life. He's haunted by nightmares, his school life is riddled with bullies, and at home the kid has to care for take care of his loving mom Lizzie (Jones), a goodhearted soul dying from a terminal illness and unable to fulfill her parental duties. The situation worsens when Conor's overbearing grandmother (Weaver) comes to live with them and help her daughter — Conor feels she's much more concerned with her antiques than her grandson. 

One night while staying up late and drawing, Conor is summoned outside his flat by the giant yew tree in the nearby cemetery that's inexplicably come alive. (Think Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy but with a larger vocabulary.) The monster tells him that he will tell the boy three stories, and in return Conor has to tell his own tale, the truth of what's bothering him.

Bayona utilizes animation and other techniques for the tree's trio of twisty tales, which have an adverse effect on Conor's life when they carry over into reality. The monster itself is a thing of cinematic beauty: Neeson did his own performance-capture to make the mass of branches and leaves stomp around dangerously at times yet also connote a nurturing quality when needed.

Monster is akin to '80s family classics that take a child on a quest of identity such as The NeverEnding Story, though Bayona gives his take a realistic and imaginative modern touch. Conor conjures his wooden buddy when he's had it with getting picked on the cafeteria, and as the story progresses, the boy has to grow up fast and deal with his mother's mortality.

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Jones has a deeply emotional turn as Lizzie, and while Weaver is grating early on, she and MacDougall's chemistry grows as Conor and his grandmother break their own walls down. A teenager who had a bit part in last year's Pan, MacDougall displays the whole spectrum of feelings, from wonder of seeing a tree talking with him to utter heartbreak, but never goes too far one way or another, which helps as the finale veers toward the maudlin.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cry some more, but A Monster Calls pulls off an impressive feat creating an intensely moving fairy tale for today.