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Customer Reviews of All The Little Animals

Intriguing, and Interesting
Not the best film out there but a unique interesting one. And worth a viewing on some lazy afternoon if your not expecting much. Bobby hasn't been right since a car accident when he was a liitle boy. And now he's stuck with his sadistic stepfather, who puts the stepmother from Cinderella to shame. Bobby decides to run away, and runs into an old man devoid of technology. This man dedicates his life to burying dead animals(most of them by the road) while shouting obscentities at the cars( or as he calls them, "killing machines") Although the ending doesn't really fit the film, it doesn't make it worse than it already is.This film isn't spectacular in any way, but it's odd enough compared to most films, and if you see it...I doubt you'll all together regret it.

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"You'll rot there with all the other loonies."
Bobby Platt (Christian Bale) is the surviving heir to the Platt department store and the fortune that accompanies it. When Bobby's mother dies, he's left in the care of his stepfather Bernard de Winter (Daniel Benzali) also known as 'the Fat'. Thanks to a childhood head injury, Bobby isn't 'normal', and his nasty stepfather tries to take advantage of Bobby by pressuring him to sign away his inheritance. Bobby resists, and his stepfather reacts cruelly. Frightened and confused, Bobby runs away into the countryside. Here he meets a peculiar hermit, Mr. Summers (John Hurt) who's dedicated to protecting wildlife and burying road kill. Bobby relates to Summers as they share similar values.

The film's breathtaking scenery and superior acting elevate the film from its somewhat mediocre plot. Hurt is an incredible actor, and I have tremendous respect of his abilities. However, Bale's performance is the truly noteworthy element in this film. The film is allegorical, and as such it also gains a curiosity factor. Allegory just isn't fashionable any more, and often justifiably so. The allegorical elements are interesting, but not enough to really energize my interest beyond the lukewarm.

On the negative side, for about the first third of this film, I had the feeling that I was watching some sort of perverse version of "Annie". You may remember that film--little orphan redhead adopted by shiny bald millionaire, Daddy Warbucks. In "All the Little Animals", the nasty stepfather looks like Daddy Warbuck's long-lost evil twin brother. That unavoidable fact, combined with the whole orphan thing, tainted my viewing. In addition, the ending was a huge disappointment for me. The film really had some interesting things to say about human isolation--those of us who do not relate well to other humans often relate extremely well to animals. The film illustrates the healing effects of animal companionship. On the reverse side, of course, cruelty towards animals shows the shriveled side of human nature. This is all charming, etc, but the horribly violent ending while underscoring the film's basic message created an uglier film as a result. I found the ending implausible and out-of-place--displacedhuman.

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"Of All the Animals, The Cruelest is Man."
After his mother dies, Bobby Platt (Christian Bale), a mentally slow 24 year old, is at the mercy of his mentally/emotionally abusive stepfather (Daniel Benzali), aka 'the Fat,' as Bobby nicknames him. When the Fat kills his pet mouse and then threatens to institutionalize him, Bobby runs away from London to Cornwall and ends up in the company of an eccentric man, Mr. Summers (John Hurt), who lets him join in his "work," which consists of scraping up roadkill and burying their bodies nearby (though they really should have buried them *away* from the roads to prevent scavengers from getting run over as well. But, anyway, that's beside the point.) Mr. Summers also helps Bobby sort out the situation with his stepfather, though the confrontation ends in tragedy.

The message in "All the Little Animals" is an obvious one just by reading the tagline. However, if they were trying to make an connection between humans against nature and, in turn, humans against each other, it doesn't really work (save for perhaps the Fat), since Mr. Summers, for one, respects nature, yet hates humans. This is explained later when he confesses to Bobby a dark secret of why he lives such a nomadic existence, contrary to his vow to never kill. And even Bobby, being the gentler of the two, breaks this vow, in a way, at the end.

The cast is really good, though the story is kind of predictable (most of the time I could guess what was going to happen beforehand); but, overall, this was a good British drama. Rated R for some violence, which is mostly done to humans.