38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Beautiful, September 12, 2005
As has been noted, this is an allegorical film and people will often divide down the middle over allegories. If you appreciate them and like digging beneath the surface, this is a remarkable film in a great many regards. Even as just a basic tale, the film works and is given outstanding performances by the three principal actors. Not enough good can be said about Christian Bale, who is maturing one of the finest actors we have today. Here, Bale is playing his exact age, 24, but looks no more than 17. As Bobby is mildly retarded due to a childhood accident of which he has more than one scar to serve as reminder, he is eternally a boy trapped in a man's body. When it comes to playing "damaged goods" Bale pulls off the nearly impossible, making you forget the actor and see only the character. (This was my primary difficulty with Forrest Gump, where everything seemed to draw attention to Mr. Hanks' brilliant "acting.")
Bobby isn't too dim to sense the evil of his stepfather "The Fat" aka Mr. De Winter, and upon his mother's death, realizes the man is out to do him serious harm. By refusing to sign over to The Fat, his inheritances, including the family's successful London department store, Bobby has sealed his fate. The Fat is going to have him declared mad and institutionalized for the remainder of his life. Bobby escapes the mansion, and wends his way towards Cornwall in search of his grandfather. The journey is brief, but symbolic as he finds rides along the trek, a young, hippy family in a van, complete with happy little dog, and an odious trucker whose zest for killing animals in the road causes his death. Wanting to help the trapped, barely alive trucker we stumble upon Mr. Summers (John Hurt) an odd hermit with a few affectations and full of mystery. An unlikely relationship develops between the two men, as Bobby finally finds the father figure denied him all his life. Summers takes Bobby in and instructs him in "The Work" - caring for the burial of animals killed at the hands (and wheels) of man. These scenes, shot in and around Cornwall, are dazzling . . . breathtakingly beautiful.
Inevitably their idyllic existence gives way to the reemergence of The Fat and confrontation, danger, resolution and acceptance. It's a beautiful tale of good versus evil and innocence versus cunning. The acting is uniformly excellent, with a truly stunning performance by Mr. Bale.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
beautiful and real, August 11, 2000
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.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All The Little Animals--A must See For Animal Lovers, June 12, 2000
This is the kind of movie you don't see alot of. Movies that touch our hearts in such a way that we love it. If you love animals and have a heart for them as I do, this is a film for you. A boy who is slower than us, is abused by hs father after the mother dies, and runs away. He meets a man who loves animals, and buries the bodies of raodkill on the sides of the road. They love each ocher, i'll leave the rest for you to see
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