All the Little Animals

First, I want to say that- if you are by any chance the director or writer or producer or anyone who worked on this film, please contact me for a job working with you, I want to work in film and this is a prime example of what I love to see at the cinema. I was in luck that, for the Palm Beach Film Festival, one of the films was cancelled and "All the Little Animals" was substituted. I have always loved Christian Bale's acting, and he is really great in this one- but the entire film is beautiful and captivating. The cinematography is gorgeous, from the streets of London to the forest where much of the film takes place- I especially loved a castle resting magically on a hilltop and dreamlike sequences where Bale's character is floating down a river holding a fox. This is indeed a film about little animals- mainly ones that are found dead on the street. This is a risky film in that it tries to balance fantasy and adventure with true horror (I guess that qualifies it for the "classic" fantasy genre of story books in which the endings were not always happy and the events were sometimes brutal)- making it very questionable for small children. I have rarely been so shaken by suspense at the movies as I was toward the awesomely climactic final scenes here. There is a human villain in this film who is so outrageously, perversely evil that he will come off as a joke for those who are not scared to death by him. I was. John Hurt is quite wonderful too, as an old hermit who befriends Bale. I do not want to spoil the plot- but I will say that it involves many a dead animal- and the moral theme that animals are as beautiful, if not more, than people (from the giant beasts down to microscopic ones). I got the feeling half way through this film that the late Jim Henson would have loved this - it is not unlike the "Storyteller" films that he directed for television in the late 80s, in which John Hurt played the narrator. In fact, the Hurt character is quite similar to the one he played in those as well. Here is a film that is great to look at, terrifically acted and written, and very moral. It is the best film I have seen yet this year.

you can't help it.

I found it is better to watch this movie as a spectator rather than as a participant, because if you allow yourself to become involved in the story, the inconsistencies will annoy you to no end.

The whole theme about cruelty to animals holds no weight because we never become involved with any animals - in fact the stepfather seems to be more of a true animal in the sense of doing what is necessary to survive than any other character.

Christian Bale wavers from being profoundly retarded one minute to quite normal the next. John Hurt shows no remorse for his past deed, indeed is rather demented in confiding that he did the right thing in his little fairy tale retelling.

The main thing that will keep you watching is to see what will happen next. Nothing happens as it should - oh, the basic good will triumph over evil theme is there in all its faded glory, but what will keep you watching this movie is because it is exactly like roadkill. You know it's bad, but you just have to see what it is...

I came across this film from a review by Roger Ebert. I have grown to respect his opinions most of the time. It was also a big motivator to check out to see Christian Bale and John Hurt on screen together. I'm a fan of both of them. The film starts out well with a good introductory to Bale's character caring for his mouse which he must keep hidden from his step father. However the second the step father appears and comes across as a James Bond villain or Darth Vader, especially with the over bearing music, I began to get concerned. Evil step father's are often poorly portrayed in films and are over the top but this one takes the cake. It was just ridiculous. Pretty much every character was over the top and felt over exaggerated. You could make a drinking game off of how many times Bale cries in this film. It just seemed the director was stereotyping mentally challenged people as crying a lot. Even John Hurt, arguably one of the best Shakespearean actors of all time, looks weak in this film. Of course it isn't the actors faults. We all know that Bale and Hurt are amazing talents. It's clearly the fault of an inexperienced director who definitely has not learned the art of subtlety. The concept was interesting and could have lead to a good story in the right hands. In these hands though the narrative is unfocused and poses to be meaningful but in the end isn't. There are plot points that come up that are out of place and have no real point in the film. Towards the end of the film, the whole thing goes off of the deep end. We go into pure fantasy with the step father turning into the equivalent of a comic book super villain. He apparently has the strength of a few men, is unfazed by injury, and can punch through glass windows. It was just so ridiculous. There are so many directions this film could have gone in and they took the worst route imaginable. I really have nothing good to say about this movie other then that Christian Bale and John Hurt did an okay job given that they clearly had nothing to work with. Though it's interesting to look at Bale's performance in this and lay it beside his eerily comedic role in American Psycho, which came out only a year later. If you look at both performances side by side you can see that Bale has an incredible range.

Some people need total control of everything and everyone in their lives. When they fail to enforce their will, these individuals lash out in anger, torment, or aggression. "The Fat" could be the poster child for such outrageous behavior. Daniel Benzali has played the heavy many times before (see "Suckers"), but his performance in "All the Little Animals" is pure evil, and reason alone to seek this film out. John Hurt and Christian Bale give fine performances, but it is Benzali who makes the movie memorable. The film is highly original, deliberately paced, and the ending is extremely satisfying. Highly recommended. - MERK

A mentally slow boy is threatened to sign his dead mother's store to his completely evil stepfather. Afraid of his stepfather he runs away from home and meets an old hermit who believes that all animals and life is of great importance. He spends his days cleaning up the roadkill on the road and giving the dead animals proper burial. The young boy decides to help the old man and is allowed to live with the old man, but is afraid that the stepfather won't stop looking for him until he gets the store. A very unusual and different story. I really liked it. The superb acting by the entire cast also helps make this a memorable little flick. Daniel Benzali makes a truly frightening stepfather. **1/2 out of ****