This Beautiful Fantastic (2016) Reviews

• A breath of fresh air

  poppad-708822017-02-06

  What a lovely, lovely movie! It's a grownup fairy tale with hints of magic: hearts opening, friendships blossoming and creativity abounding. The story is centered around a garden...after all, in real life the work of a gardener is a form of magic. The characters are endearing and the cast is perfection: from the cantankerous cynical neighbor to the witchy librarian to the magical inventor to the girl who makes art because she must. As I exited the movie I told my husband it will be one we must share with our adult daughter, my aged mother and our millennial son. Something there for all of us.

• Enchanting excellence.

  Sleepin_Dragon2018-09-19

  It's been some time since I've been so captivated by a film, initially I found myself wondering what I was watching, and even what genre it fitted into, the dreaded family film. The arrival of Andrew Scott convinced me that it was going to be good, I hadn't realised just how good. The characters are virtually perfect, each of them with a part to play, each of them truly captivating, and beautifully portrayed. Every single cast member is fantastic, Tom Wilkinson, Jessica Brown Findlay, and of course the incredible Andre Scott. I loved Anna Chancellor's prickly librarian. It was a feel good film, on that can be enjoyed by the whole family. It's a quirky story, one that could be overlooked, but don't make the same mistake I did, quite simply, it's an enchanting film. 10/10

• What's It All About, Alfie?

  lavatch2017-07-19

  Tom Wilkinson is an actor who never fails to please, even in an average, low-budget film like "The Beautiful Fantastic." In this slow-moving fable, the film follows the life of a foundling child, Miss Bella Brown, who grows up to be obsessed with order. She is especially skillful as a mousy librarian who seemingly knows every book in the local library. But her definition of order does not include the outdoors and the paradigm of what is considered order in nature: a garden. The story unfolds around the flimsy premise that Miss Brown will be evicted from her home unless she can transform her unkempt backyard into a beautiful garden. The "magic garden" scenario is played out alongside a children's story that Bella is writing about a fantastic creature. The unconvincing romantic subplot evolves between a library patron who is an inventor and Miss Brown. Sadly, there is not a scintilla of chemistry between the characters. The various narrative strands never come together in the film. But the most engaging scenes are those with Bella in conversation with her neighbor, a curmudgeon and lover of flora named Alfred "Alfie" Stevenson. As Alfie, Wilkinson shines with the one-liners and the character choices of a nasty old man with a heart of gold. One especially glaring weakness with the film was the big build-up to the moment when Bella, working with the assistance of Alfie, finally completes her garden. Inexplicably, we never even see the entire garden, only glimpse a portion of the pond during the celebration. The filmmakers dropped the ball in not creating for the viewer a spectacular floral enclave that was the fruit of the labors of Bella, Alfie, and the long-suffering Irishman, Vernon, a widower who is clearly in love with Bella. With the exception of Alfie, the characters in this film were one-dimensional, cardboard cutouts. And the viewers were left in the lurch, as we were frantically screaming, "Show us the garden!" As a expert gardener, Alfie delivers a memorable metaphor of the ideal garden as "a world of beautifully ordered chaos." Unfortunately, the film had plenty of chaos, but lacked the beauty and the order of a garden that was never revealed to the audience.

• a beautifully fantastic film

  mompaxton-481-1213812017-08-19

  For a film that is so simple a story line, it was just beautiful. I loved every minute of it. Jessica Findley is a fresh face that I'm starting to see more and more, the film industry is better for it. She's truly gifted and can carry her character to the fullest. I first noticed her in the TV series Harlots, she carries that show as well. All eyes are drawn to her. Well written, cast, filmed, staged and executed. Been a very long time since a simple PG rated movie was done this well. A breath of fresh air, someone else wrote. Well stated. Highly recommend this beautifully fantastic film.

• The film is definitely worth repeated viewing and can be seen as a family, children, "not for everyone", romance and more.

  olexandr-melnyk2016-11-28

  They say for good story you need to put ordinary people in unusual conditions. In this movie all is done exactly opposite — extraordinary people trying to live a normal life. Very gentle and sensitive, sometimes melodramatic, sometimes a little fantasy story about friendship. A lot in the characters and their stories is left out of the scenes and storyline, that adds its charm, but sometimes it confuses too, because at the end of the story plot is sometimes torn and increasingly appear worn cliché. But the subtle British humor, solid cast alloy and sincere dedication of the characters to each other and the common cause keep you in good shape up to the final. This is the second serious work of the director and screenwriter Simon Aboud (after the movie "Comes a Bright Day" 2012), and it may well be his lift up. The film is shot in a beautiful style, has a well defined set design and fascinating close-ups. A variety of pastel colors contrast beautifully with the dark attires of the protagonist, who boldly challenges Amélie. Among the actors, despite the presence of the BAFTA winner and a sweet dream of all women in the world, Andrew Scott (prof. Moriarty, who have not understood;) ), Tom Wilkinson should be noted. His image only is not cause any issues. Old horse, as you known, doesn't spoil the furrow. And here he is, in fact, determines the nature of the entire film. Another picture in a long creative biography of the actor, for which he is most likely again will be nominated for something as a supporting actor. You can't escape from your fate ;) The overall impression is slightly spoiled by the trolling of the Russian speaking distributors who translated "This Beautiful Fantastic" as "Fantastic love and where to find it". Trying to play on a borrowed brand stinks, especially that the original title itself is intriguing. In Ukrainian version it is "Magic Magnificents" and it is magic and magnificent, and correct! Overall, the film is definitely worth repeated viewing and can be seen as a family, children, "not for everyone", romance and more. It is all of those at once and any of these limits does not fit it unambiguously. From me movie has solid 8/10 (8 of 10) and the tab for the home video library.