Rating: 
Summary: Great movie but...
Review: I found this movie to be uplifting in almost all senses of the word. The performances are outstanding, particularly from Julie Walters (but then, what else would you expect from her?). There were two things in the movie that made me rate it 4 Stars rather than 5: 1) Why wasn't Julie Walters in the final scene? I felt that I needed that sense of closure and 2) While the scene in which the father returns to the mines to work and the strikers are going crazy screaming & taunting the scabs, was indeed shocking & disturbing in its realism, I did not understand one thing. Why, if there were hundreds of policeman protecting the returning workers, was it so very easy for the son to get to the father, once he was inside the compound, to confront him about returning to work? If it were so easy for any of the strikers to reach the main compound area, then why had they not done so before to get to the workers who refused to strike? Why were there not policeman protecting the workers there as well?But, those two points aside, I have watched & enjoyed this movie repeatedly due to its sincerity, levity, and uplifting quality.
Rating: 
Summary: All about passion and love, with delicacy
Review: Billy Elliot still shakes me after all these days like a bundle of lit scent - whenever I go near, I am struck by the religious smell and felt the sentiment deep down. It still wets my eyes when I portrait the father's shivering lips when he sat in the ballet theatre watching on the stage and the very son of his, flied out from the side a beautiful swan, high in the air, wildly expressive and immensely powerful. Who wouldn't shiver and been stunned by the astonishing moment of love? I remember it was the boyish call out from the top of a short wall in the small town of miners and simple cascaded houses, 'Ouy, dancing boy!', that the first streams of tears came down my cheek, unbearably. It's been an inevitable opening of a full blown reservoir. My flooded heart started to pound as it would like, the fullest, with the rhythm of each pulling of its nerves by nothing but love. The moment the two big iron men lightly fought over the right to carry the suitcase of the baby kid's, on the down slope towards the bus stop seemed so lean yet touching, forcing one to feel the uncontrollable passion of love heated through the cold surface of those dark jackets and stubbornly sticking dark hair. It really doesn't need a big budget and big stars to make a movie shine. Billy Elliot once again proved this convincingly. The whole movie was tense without any dull moments, touching without any artificial tear forcing effort and long lasting like nothing of the Hollywood momentary big stuns. It expresses passion and love, like many of the other movies try to capture, with its unique and tender caress, over the most realistic people and their simple lives. My heart goes to Billy Elliot, the boy, the family, the movie and its most invincible passion and love, of all.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet, funny, lovely and spontaneous...
Review: This film breaks your heart, then fills it up again with the hope that young Billy Elliot can indeed make a better life for himself far from his British mining town. Jamie Bell is an unrefined gem, raw and energetic in the title role, and this film's exploration of gender roles is handled with exquisite taste and sensitivity, gently mocking stereotypes but also offering touching examples of courage and grace from unexpected sources. My only major criticism would be the film's epilogue. Tacked on, perhaps, to give a sense of "closure" (complete with all-grown-up versions of several lead characters), this section felt wholly unnecessary, and definitely coloured my perception of the film as a whole. But even the end wasn't enough to mar this film in my mind, ... Definitely one worth adding to the collection...
Rating:
Summary: A little slow to develop, but otherwise great movie
Review: Billy Elliot is a wonderfully written movie. The acting is above average, although not spectacular. I was most pleased with the way the movie would have subplots that seemed not to fit with the movie (such as the miner's strike), but they would be wonderfully interwoven into the movie in a way that was thought provoking. However, I was somewhat dissapointed with the movie's handling of the homosexual issue. While the point of the movie was that not all boys that are interested in dance, etc. are homosexuals, the movie gives the impression that all male homosexuals are interested in dance, etc.-- which I don't think to be true. However, that aside, the movie deals with the issue of young boys and their emotions very well. It shows that there is nothing wrong with emotionally expressive boys. I was also impressed with the way the writer handled the family situation- the interactions between Billy, his father, his brother, and his grandmother were intense and meaningful. Overall, a movie worth seeing for anybody interested in child psychology. Also a good discussion starter for families... teenage and above. As a note, since this is a British film, the accents may take awhile to get used to (for Americans), but it is not very difficult to keep up.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring.
Review: The film does not give adequate time to develop Billy's growing interest in music, especially dance (ballet) -- apart from a few scenes (i.e. improvising a tune on the piano). This lack of preparation makes the viewer question whether Billy's interest in ballet is genuine or whether it is an act of rebellion against his coal-miner father. It is only in the latter half of the film is it made clear that his interests are genuine. Apart from this one quibble, the film is very well made, capturing the feel of the labor disputes of the 80's in the UK. Jamie Bell who plays Billy Eliot should be nominated for an Academy award for Best Actor.
Rating:
Summary: Buried Treasure
Review: I found "Billy Elliot" in a local video store, and really only got it because it was used, and cheap. Took it home, didn't know what to expect. I found it was a treasure and a few days later, bought the DVD. From the title sequence I knew something was up, they weren't ordinary, a kid bouncing up and down through the screen. Then moving into the first "real" scene I watched closer, the film drew me in, I couldn't stop watching. Right off, the viewer finds great character development, with 11-year-old Billy at home caring after of his aged "Grama" and then more, with his dad and older brother heading off to the miner's picket line in their small Northern England town. His newly deceased mom appears there at home in family photos on the piano top. Next scene, Billy is drawn into a girl's ballet class that just happens to meet where he's taking boxing lessons. That's where we meet the rest of the main characters, his school-mate Michael, his dance teacher, Mrs wilkinson and her daughter, Debbie. The expected conflicts arise as Billy pursues his passion for dancing. Family, culture, economics, and just plain ol' growin' up come into the fray. Billy's resolve and guts drive him through to his goal of being a ballet dancer. The happy ending is expected, but getting there is what's unexpected. This film has greatly directed scenes that are composed like a master painter. Scenes move artistically from one to the next. Watch for the blend from the Fred Astaire movie clip moving right on screen to the scene with Grama and him as they go to visit Billy's mom's grave. Later, watch for the slight turn of his father's head as he sits on Billy's bed moving to the next scene as dad decides to be a "scab", going back to the mine for Billy's sake. I think "little" stuff like that makes for a great movie. The story is well written. The acting is dramatic and believable.
The music is worth getting the soundtrack. The dancing scenes are just great, from the initial stumbling about with Mrs. Wilkinson, to serious artistry when Billy auditions at the Royal Ballet School. Jamie Bell as Billy is a kid you cannot help but to root for in this movie and in the future as well. He's a talent that I pray no one exploits, I think you'll want to wish the best for him. I missed it at the theatre but found "Billy Elliot", a real treasure, buried at my local video store. And then later, with the added features on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Scabdance?
Review: The plot of this movie is a mixture of THE FULL MONTY and FLASHDANCE, set against much the same North-of-England, working-class background as KES. There is very little that struck me as truly original, although I enjoyed the scene when Billy's elder brother is chased by police about the mining town and he simply knows that every front and back door is going to be unlocked. The choice of music for the soundtrack was bizarre -- early 70s T Rex (largely) for an early 80s movie? But, given that most of the music of the 1980s was so dire, the choice of a deceased composer like Marc Bolan enabled the producers to get legal permission before they started filming (unlike THE BIG CHILL, for instance, where the actors are required to dance in the kitchen with no idea what tune will finally be overlaid on the soundtrack). There are one or two very touching scenes -- such as Billy showing his ballet teacher the letter from his dead mother -- and you know you've been set up for them, but they're endearing nonetheless. I couldn't understand why Billy's Dad had such a strong Scottish accent when everyone else in the family and community spoke with the lilt of North-East England. Overall, not a great film from the production companies of Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson (Working Title / Tiger Aspect), but not a bad one. The theme is one that I'd like to show to my children, but because of the swearing, this movie is rated 15 in the UK, which meant that the actor who played Billy was unable to see it.
Rating:
Summary: Reminded me of other plot elements!
Review: I had only two problems with the movie--- (1) Why didn't they just make the kid 13 (his real age) or at least 12-- it was very difficult to believe he was just 11 as the story puts it-- at least not here in the U.S. ?? (2) In real life, Northeastern England, mid-1980s... could people not even say "Pass the butter" without saying, "Pass the
----ing butter!" ?? I fully accept that kids use 4-letter words until they wear them out or get bored with them, but wasn't this just a tad overdone in "Billy"-- especially for the adults??? I think what struck me most was the *reminders* of elements in other movies-- for example: *Kid yells at parent to stop beating sibling. ("A Home of Our Own")
*One last lingering look at the old homeplace. ("Grapes of Wrath")
*Father finally accepting his son being different. ("October Sky")
*The eternal struggle of labor against big business. ("How Green Was My Valley")
*One boy accepting the *affections* of another, even
though he really doesn't understand them. ("This Boy's Life")
*Boy being sent out into the world (by his ballet teacher) to
learn about life. ("Pelle the Conqueror") If you have watched "Billy", I am sure you can think of other examples. I LOVED the accents, but had to watch the movie a second time with captions for the deaf enabled-- to know what the heck they were saying in many spots. I wish I knew what kind of success this movie had here in Texas-- my guess is that our pistol-packin', football hero dads would say, "Well, okay for him I guess-- just don't let it ever happen to MY boy!" Interesting that they auditioned 2,000 kids (and almost gave up) before they found a kid who could act AND dance. Jamie Bell was fantastic as Billy. Many very touching moments in the film-- the boy trying to clean the spray paint from his mom's grave marker; the grandmother being left behind; the father willing to be a *scab* to earn money for his son's trip; the miners having to go back to a job at the same or even less salary (been there, done that, bought the t-shirt-- it is a lousy feeling!) Those are just a few examples. The extra DVD material was very interesting and helpful! This one richly deserved all the praise it received-- Gene in Amarillo
Rating: 
Summary: Manipulative, unfocused, unsure of itself
Review: Billy Elliott (Stephen Daldry, 2000) The surprise hit of 2000, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. Daldry throws scene after scene of unmitigated emotional manipulation at us without ever really bothering to connect them. Plotlines begin and disappear (mostly to accentuate points of character; it's easier and more effective to do so without introducing subplots you don't plan to do anything with), characters are developed and then never realized, ambiguity reigns in areas where definition cries out for exposure, and the soundtrack is a horrid mishmash of songs that may have been appropriate where they were, had the movie's subject matter been about the same things as the songs were (most notably The Clash's "London Calling," which lent a great deal of weight to what was, at best, a minor scene). As with Cast Away (ONE word, not two...), a director took a fine cast of characters and refused to let them come through. The most heartbreaking example of this is Debbie (Nicola Wilson in her screen debut), the daughter of Billy's dance teacher and a possible love interest-- until she disappears from the movie without any explanation. Could have been much, much better than it was. **
Rating:
Summary: Gotta dance...
Review: Like "The Full Monty," this film is a comic (but in no way belittling) treatment of hard times in a socially-challenged small town. The accents are thick and some of the cultural references are a bit curious, but there's no denying the true heart pumping through the story. *** Billy Elliot is an 11-year-old boy who secretly ditches his boxing lessons for ballet class. His father and older brother are both participants in a bitter miner's strike gripping their town in northeastern England. The whole family is also still in recovery-mode following the death of Billy's mother. *** Billy's exuberance and talent (and actor Jamie Bell's) are such a joy to behold. It makes it all the more poignant when he has to face his dad and brother's discovery of his dancing (as the audience knows they must). Billy is the title hero here, but by the film's end, every character has made their own stunning contributions.
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