1. This kid is way more of an adult than I am.
2. Okay, now he's washing clothes and helping out around the house. Do kids do this? Can my kids be like that one day?
3. The mom is in bed. This is going to be sad. :(
4. He’s getting bullied at school. BULLIES ARE THE WORST.
5. Felicity Jones is so talented. I could watch her peel a carrot and still be mesmerized.
6. Ooh, a King Kong reference. Methinks a monster is being foreshadowed...
7. I wish I could draw. Drawing as a kid is so magical.
8. Omg, is the monster voiced by Liam Neeson? Perfection.
9. Liam Neeson’s voice is HOTT.
10. Liam Neeson’s voice can get it.
11. Liam is an animated tree, and I’m still swooning.
12. Sigourney Weaver is in this.
13. Sigourney Weaver with a British accent!
14. Love me some Sigourney.
15. Oh, Grandma doesn’t want you touching anything? Translation: You should touch everything.
16. Nice job, kid. Rules are made to be broken.
17. The clock ticks 12:07, and fantastical things start to happen. What is it about 12:07?
18. The ground is opening up. The tree is on fire! GREAT special effects.
19. Is it weird that I find this tree hott? Tree monster has a hott bod. He just does.
20. WHY ISN’T THIS KID PEEING HIS PANTS RIGHT NOW?! A massive tree just came alive, ripped itself from the earth, barged into his bedroom, and yelled in his face. Like...that’s not normal.
21. He’s defending his mother. He’s her little man! That is adorable.
22. Ooh, we’re going into an animation? Did not see this coming.
23. Loving this watercolor artwork animation.
24. The evil queen’s hands just turned into spiders. Same, tbh.
25. Sounds like a typical kids story. This is cute!
26. HOLD. UP.
27. Okay, NOT a typical kids story because it sounds like real life...aka complicated af.
28. Damn, shit just got real. I did not expect this, but I’m digging it.
29. I love that the monster’s stories have a complicated truth to them. Not cut and dried.
30. I keep seeing this theme about not getting punished when he thinks he’s done something bad.
31. Everybody has a little good and a little bad in them.
32. I can’t tell who’s the bad guy and who’s the good guy anymore. These fairy tales are twisting my brain all up in places they haven’t been twisted for a while.
33. Felicity Jones is the shit. Did I say that already? I’m loving this mother/best friend dynamic with her son.
34. Why does the bully keep looking at him like that? I think he just wants to be friends, but he'll never admit it.
35. Okay...who cast the cute dad?! Well done.
36. “Americans don’t get a lot of holiday.” Preach, dad, preach.
37. Why is there something so cathartic about a grandfather clock getting broken?
38. Ooh, another storytelling sequence. Bet this parable is about the dad being kind of shitty (but kind of not...it’s so complicated!).
39. “Belief is half of healing.” I love this quote.
40. Mom is getting worse. Please don’t do this to me. They love each other so much!
41. This kid can really act. So impressed.
42. My face is super wet for some reason. OH YEAH. Because I’m quietly balling my eyes out.
43. “I wish I had 100 years to give you.” *insert sound of heart breaking into a million pieces*
44. Everyone in the theater is sniffling. It’s kind of lovely to be in this all together.
45. Having a really good cry. Isn’t it weird how there are good cries and bad cries?
46. I have to read the book this is based on. This is so complex and poetic.
47. This is beautiful — letting go of someone so they can be free of pain.
48. Too many emotions. I needed this. I didn’t know I needed this.
49. I love my mom so goddamn much.
50. Sigh, life is so complicated.
51. Life is beautiful.
52. Damn, this movie is 2016 in a nutshell.
A Monster Calls comes out in select theaters this Friday. Bring the tissues and bring your friends for emotional support. ;)
All images courtesy of Focus Features.