Le règne animal

A New disease is causing people to mutate into various animal species. Francois' wife Lana is hospitalized, and in the process of mutating. Francois and his son Emile move closer to a center where she is being treated. One day, a bus carrying infected patients veers off the road and dozens escape into the forest.

Now, Francois and Emile is on a mission to find Lana, but Emile also notices abnormalities as he starts mutating. Emile's transformation is so effectively done. I enjoyed the way the film treated these mutated people with respect, and didn't make them out to be freaks or monsters (although they are considered by some of the characters as such, and referred to as critters.)

Emile meets a young man, Fix, who is transforming into an eagle, and the friendship between them was beautiful. Fix's mutation is also so well done, and almost believable.

This fantasy adventure concentrates on characterization, and I enjoyed all the characters. I loved the bond between Francois and Emile. The performances are excellent. The make-up effects are excellent. I loved the script, the setting near the woods, the hauntingly beautiful score, and the great visuals. The film has depth and substance. In general, I had a really good time with 'The Animal Kingdom'. This truly is a remarkable film.

I was really looking forward to watch this movie since it had such a unique idea with some decent budget behind it. The movie looks beautiful and we are introduced to a fascinating world where some people start to mutate into wild animals or some would say beasts. It's an interesting coming of age story told in a unique fashion. However I think there are definitely some pacing issues and the final result is way too long. I enjoyed spending time in this world but after some while I repeatedly stared at the clock to see how long the movie still runs and that is never a good sign. Also I think the movie was pretty tame and could have delved deeper into its dark side. In the end it's certainly a unique movie but it also is not without its flaws. [5,8/10]

Caught this at the Sci Fi Day of Leeds Film Festival 2023. Like most good Science fiction it's got me thinking and reflecting on the modern issues explored by proxy. It's sort of an ecological anti-othering of different people and a great father and son bonding film.

I don't want to spoil any of the plot which is great. But for me, this film has a rarely seen perfect casting. The son is superb all gangly pout, angst and joy and sympathy. Together his father and him have a spot on relationship and great chemistry.

Every other member of the cast esp his school chums really fit their roles to a T. Ps also loved Fix and Froggy. The make up effects are fantastic too.

This one is going to stay with me for a while.

The term "multilayered" is so overused in reviews but this is the first word that came into my mind as i am writing this. This is the definition of a "multilayered" movie. There are so many interpretations for this movie, even contradictory to each other. But it's not even an "open to interpretation" movie, i mean, you can take literally what is happening here, it's not necessary to look for metaphors or allegories. Personally though, i don't think this is a straightforward story. I believe there is a message here, in fact, this is a GREAT message, not like some suspicious and weird Holywood messages. The message here is : UNITY. Don't let powerful people/Governments/International or local Institutions/billionaires and even our inside fears and bad part of ourselves divide us. Power to the people.

Regarding the movie per se : Not just multilayered but even a multiple genre movie. A coming of age dramedy? A drama fantasy? A sci fi thriller? A post apocalyptic movie? A dark comedy/allegory? It's difficult to categorize it. In any case, this was enjoyable, even exciting at times. The biggest flaw here was its running time, this should have been 15 minutes shorter because there were some unnecessary/boring scenes. And the pace was not good at times. But overall, these things were not a distraction. Characters are so likeable that you root hard for them. Duris is a famous, great actor but Kircher was also amazing. Exarchopoulos did also a good job. There were many intense moments, many emotional moments and whilst there were not mindblowing twists, still i couldn't guess exactly where it goes.

The ending was MAGNIFICENT.

More ambitious movies like this, please.

I didn't expect much - the story sounded intriguing but more than often the execution is lacking.

Boy, was I wrong. This one pulled me right in. It's a very well rounded film, impressive actors, great storytelling, amazing pictures / camera work and very catchy music. It really felt like I was part of the story.

Is this the best film I've ever seen? Probably not. But it is a great production and I had an exciting evening with a lot of emotions. We even talked about it for quite a while afterwards.

It's very nice to see european film productions on that level. I hope it'll hit the streaming services some day soon.