One Sentence: It is very hard to care about Mel Gibson’s character being a depressed man.
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: 06-May-2011
Nudity: None
This movie is capturing a lot of interest in my social circles. Mel Gibson is in a movie? It has a puppet in it? It is called The Beaver? What is this movie about? I keep getting asked a ton of questions about it already. I have a couple of answers for them and you. Yes Mel Gibson is in it, and if you can get past looking at his face and only hearing those phone calls he is quite good in it, and yes, it has a beaver puppet in it, and is in most of the movie.
The Beaver is what I call heavy drama. It is a movie about damaged lives and sits on you with a lot of weight. It doesn’t attempt to break up that drama with much comedy, so you are just there with a lot of damage and pain, right in your face, with no where else to go. Movies like these need to walk a fine line, of going off the deep end of too depressing to watch, or being too light to actually deliver a message. The Beaver while very bizarre, I think walked this line very well, delivered by wonderful direction by Jodie Foster. As I am writing the movie review for The Beaver I am trying to be objective as possible when it comes to Mel Gibson, and after 5 minutes I got past seeing him on screen as a monster and looked at him as the character of Walter Black and I thought he did a wonderful job. Especially when The Beaver appeared.
This movie is not a fun time, it has some strong messages, but it is quite good. I don’t think I would ever recommend paying full price to see this movie but if you are looking for some drama, this movie is actually something I would check out. This odd collision of puppets, Mel Gibson and the story all make for something that is a little odd and a little beautiful at the same time. If you do not hate everything about Mel Gibson I would at least rent this one.
