Nuanced approach saves this monster of a sob-story …

IT’S a new year, but the waterworks have started already. The British drama A Monster Calls has all the ingredients to produce yet another sob-fest, revolving as it does around a sensitive, bullied boy who must come to terms with his mother’s cancer diagnosis.

Twelve-year-old Conor (newcomer MacDougall) is particularly close with his mom (Jones). Both are free-spirited and artistically inclined, and Conor’s dad is no longer in the picture, having fled the scene many years earlier for America. Mum, as she’s called, takes a cocktail of drugs that has worked for a while, but that’s starting to change. She looks more wan by the day, and getting out of bed has JA Bayona Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones, Lewis MacDougall, Liam Neeson 10 - 12 PGV 148 minutes become a major undertaking.

Conor is forced to move in with his formidable grandmother (Weaver, with a distractingly inconsistent British accent). Grandma lives in what looks like a museum, and instructs Conor not to touch a thing. What’s a kid to do? Escape, of course. Conor uses his imagination to do it. He starts getting nightly visits from a yew tree that’s visible from his bedroom window. At 12.07 am, the squat thing springs to life, transforming into a giant beast with lava coursing through its veins, and marching to Conor’s window to tell him stories. Voiced by Liam Neeson, the monster brings a winning mix of warmth and intimidation to a CGI character whose mode of communication is tough love.

Directed by Bayona (The Impossible)