A Monster Calls

"[Bayona] finds a nice balance between gothic fairytale and cancer drama." 

"A sensitive and beautifully made lesson in the limits and power of storytelling (...) Patrick Ness's screenplay (...) hits the emotional notes required by an illness-centered family drama with grace." 

"This beautifully structured fable may be focused on the specific pain, of a specific child, during a specific moment in time, but it blows up every fragment of its premise into heart-stirring universal appeal." 

"It tries hard to simultaneously be exciting, emotional and magical. And while it doesn’t always manage to nail that tricky trifecta, it provides a number of touching moments and a behemoth to remember." 

"We’ve heard the same lesson countless times before in other movies, and though it’s certainly impressive to see Conor’s anxieties manifest themselves in such a stunning (...) being, as monsters go, Bayona’s creation is all bark and no bite." 

"J.A. Bayona (...) deluges his story - albeit well acted and technically-flawless - with emotionally coded representational imagery and hectors the viewer with stylistic shifts, mood swings, and frantic pacing."