All The Little Animals

[Fierce Critter]

This film came out in something like 1996 (get your details at imdb.com). I taped it off IFC a couple years ago, and just got around to watching it.

My interest was mainly as a lover of wildlife, but the fact that John Hurt and Christian Bale were in it didn't hurt.

It's basically a story of a simple-minded man (Bale) who escapes his evil stepdad by hooking up with reclusive John Hurt, who spends his days burying the animals he finds along England's roadsides, and his nights in a rustic cabin in the woods.

There's suspense involving the evil stepfather, sad moments, not as much wildlife as I anticipated, and a very simple story.

I liked it, but I can't say whether I recommend it or not. Reading the page on it at IMDB, I have to agree that the villainous stepfather is very obvious, and it wasn't the nature-story I guess I thought it would be. So it's not a "great" film.

But if you like John Hurt in particular, and 2ndary Christian Bale, you might want to be sure to see this for their performances, which were enjoyable.

NOT FOR CHILDREN - involves violence, scary people, death of both human and animal variety.