All The Little Animals

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, and Interesting
Review: Not the best film out there but a unique interesting one. And worth a viewing on some lazy afternoon if your not expecting much. Bobby hasn't been right since a car accident when he was a liitle boy. And now he's stuck with his sadistic stepfather, who puts the stepmother from Cinderella to shame. Bobby decides to run away, and runs into an old man devoid of technology. This man dedicates his life to burying dead animals(most of them by the road) while shouting obscentities at the cars( or as he calls them, "killing machines") Although the ending doesn't really fit the film, it doesn't make it worse than it already is.This film isn't spectacular in any way, but it's odd enough compared to most films, and if you see it...I doubt you'll all together regret it.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing adaptation
Review: The film not only didn't do justice to the book but also lost the feel, the atmosphere and the message. Christian Bale, a fine actor, is horribly mis-cast. Some key scenes were lost from the book and I question the choices made by the writer and/or director with regards to this. Obvious commercial decisions caused this film to lack the emotive power that was so evident in the novel. Read the book, forget the film.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful and real
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great Flick if you have the ability to understand. Do you?
Review: This is an excellent motion picture that details human emotion and survival. A wonderful display of charity toward animals of a lesser nature than man. A triumphant journey into the hearts of mankind. It's good to feel a movie for a change, where money and power isn't the main focus.

Rating:
Summary: An Allegory for our Time
Review: This is one of those quirky, oddball films which sit on the shelves in video rentals and only get rented when everything else is gone. This is a shame because this is a gem of a work: the acting is solid, the direction seamless and the cinematography haunting.
But it is not for everyone.
The easy read is that this is a movie for animal lovers, pantheistic day dreamers who think animals are more valuable than humans. But the story within the story reveals the struggle between good and evil which dogs humankind, no matter how much we humans want to deny its existence.
Its allegorical connotations reverberate throughout, and trying to nail down the characters into neat concepts somehow betrays the originality of the film.
Suffice it to say the Mr. Sommers is caught between his love for things innocent and his self-destructive hatred for things which he believes evil; ultimately this leads to a lack of judgment which costs him his life and I am, sad to say, not sure whether he ever realizes that much of his life has been spent trying to connect with a goodness which eludes him.
Each character is rich in symbolism, though Bobby and Mr. Sommers obviously dominate.
I urge you to see this film for yourself and decide how this allegory runs. In so doing you will discover much of yourself.