This movie made me feel so conflicted. On one hand, I'm a sucker for a beautiful location, plucky kids and heartfelt narratives dealing with family togetherness and independence. I'm also a proponent of mental health awareness. It's high time we de-stigmatize and humanize and validate the suffering people experience at the hand of long-misunderstood phenomena that cause real pain and suffering. Too many horror films demonize people with mental illness and it's time for that to end.
On the other hand, I'm a person who has little patience for filmmakers who underestimate their audience or rely on trickery and manipulation to make their point or tell their story in a way which fits their definition of "horror". Which this film has in spades. Its final, admittedly touching point, isn't made until the final 15 minutes. It felt rushed. It was confusing. It was clichéd. And that's too bad because it had all the right pieces to be something really amazing. As it is, it feels more profound than it was because it ends on such a sentimental high note. Hence many of the positive reviews you see here.
The first half hour of the movie is engaging and emotional, and the story is easy to follow. You're introduced to a lovely family whom you want to see succeed. Tragedy strikes. Motivation is introduced via villains, cute kids and animal friends, and intriguing plot devices. Things begin to fall apart around the middle when disjointed tricks of editing to confuse the viewer into believing something is happening that isn't really happening. They're trying to get you to see things from the protagonist's perspective, but that message comes too little too late.
And all potential falls apart. Whatever message was trying to find a voice gets lost in translation.
Realistically, one movie cannot possibly be all things to all socially-relevant issues and invested audiences, but I feel like it's not hard to find a bridge to join two concepts like what this film is trying to marry which is family, acceptance, love, safety, and coinciding mental illness. There's a lot to unpack here, but the editing is like a baggage handler who sends your bags to Hawaii while you're off to England; you may have fun on your trip but you're just not gonna have what you need for the journey.
On the other hand, I'm a person who has little patience for filmmakers who underestimate their audience or rely on trickery and manipulation to make their point or tell their story in a way which fits their definition of "horror". Which this film has in spades. Its final, admittedly touching point, isn't made until the final 15 minutes. It felt rushed. It was confusing. It was clichéd. And that's too bad because it had all the right pieces to be something really amazing. As it is, it feels more profound than it was because it ends on such a sentimental high note. Hence many of the positive reviews you see here.
The first half hour of the movie is engaging and emotional, and the story is easy to follow. You're introduced to a lovely family whom you want to see succeed. Tragedy strikes. Motivation is introduced via villains, cute kids and animal friends, and intriguing plot devices. Things begin to fall apart around the middle when disjointed tricks of editing to confuse the viewer into believing something is happening that isn't really happening. They're trying to get you to see things from the protagonist's perspective, but that message comes too little too late.
And all potential falls apart. Whatever message was trying to find a voice gets lost in translation.
Realistically, one movie cannot possibly be all things to all socially-relevant issues and invested audiences, but I feel like it's not hard to find a bridge to join two concepts like what this film is trying to marry which is family, acceptance, love, safety, and coinciding mental illness. There's a lot to unpack here, but the editing is like a baggage handler who sends your bags to Hawaii while you're off to England; you may have fun on your trip but you're just not gonna have what you need for the journey.