Pluskylang Great Film overall

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

adonis98-743-186503 Four young men mistake their lives for a movie and attempt one of the most audacious heists in U.S. history. American Animals was nowhere near as good as i was expecting it to be plus to be honest? i was expecting the whole 'heist' thing to have some heart and energy to it but unfortunately it didn't have any of that. The overall acting was also not as great as i was expecting especially from Evan Peters plus Blake Jenner's role was quite smaller than i imagined. It's not a bad film to say but it's definitely not as great as the trailer suggested or as i expected. (5/10)

robertmaybeth I admire the film-makers for choosing the pseudo-documentary style and trying to do something new with it. That said, this movie is D+ in every way and it'd be the very last choice I'd have to watch (narrowly edging out a test pattern)."Animals" is based on a true story and the real people are really in it. The problem here is the story makes a marginally adequate script that would need to be fleshed out with something or someone unique or ground breaking to make it really work. Instead it's a story of four not-too-smart young men, none of whom has anything compelling, or even remotely interesting about them. None of them are facing any sort of desperate situation that would push them to crime (drug addiction, debt, etc.) and their only motive for committing the crime in this movie seems to be boredom. So this train doesn't have enough momentum to push it over into even being mildly entertaining - instead it's a cringe-fest of stupidity. Even the music tries to get in on the story; the score is always there to tell us in big bold terms what we ought to be feeling. But ultimately "Animals" is just disappointing. Their crime is stupid, their motives are stupid, even the method of carrying it out is stupid, and so it came to the point where I myself felt, well STUPID - and even a bit guilty for watching them botching things so horribly. The 4 men in this story have chemistry, of sorts, but ultimately I found it very difficult to even care what happened to them. If the point here is as a lesson for how NOT to commit crime, this movie succeeds in sending that message loud and clear. All in all though, "Animals" is more cringey then entertaining: it's unpleasant to watch, there's not enough humor, the characters are lifeless and dull. This movie has few/no redeeming qualities. If I had it to watch over again I wouldn't - it's not a good use of your time.

cultfilmfan American Animals, falls into a select group of films through no fault of the film itself, has been reduced to a pretty bare bones and very limited release just playing in a handful of theatres across North America. Having just seen the film last night, I was wondering as I was watching it why the film's distributor didn't choose to be a bit more adventurous and give the film a wide release. Was it because the distributor only has certain amount of seats allotted to them, or was it not a finanically viable option? Either way, I think that even if the film's current distribution company couldn't for whatever reason give it a wide theatrical release that any number of big players could very easily have done so and I could almost guarantee that with the right marketing and with the positive reviews and word of mouth that the film already has going for it, that it could become quite a hit and the reason that it hasn't already done so is because for most people it is not playing in theatres that are anywhere close to where they live, so henceforth leaving the option of either driving a long distance to see it, or catch it when it becomes available on streaming. I think more major studios need to take bigger risks by releasing films like this because I think they would score more with audiences than they think they would. Anyone now can tell you that their basic movie multiplex is full of all the lastest Marvel, Star Wars and superhero films which do seem to take in a large amount of the money that the box office brings in, but I would encourage these major theatre chains as well to also cater to a smaller demographic and bring in films that maybe an older audience, or an audience who has far outgrown your usual Summer movie fare has to offer because for myself I find that within the last little while my theatre trips are becoming less and less frequent for the simple reason that there is nothing worthwhile playing and I am so very fortunate when a film like American Animals does come along to have a much needed break from the normal fare that is out at this time of year. The film is based on a true story and combining aspects of a documentary as well as the film being a fully realized and played out drama, it becomes one of the most fascinating as well as entertaining films of this year and what the cinema has had to offer lately. I was quite impressed by the film's overall style with it's mix of 60's and 70's musical tunes as well as flashing between the past and to the present where we see the real life perpetrators of the crime depicted in the film in reality and get to see their thoughts and opinions about what made them decide to do what they did and also giving us a look at basically these characters had for the most part everything going right for them in an academic, or career oriented way and just out of sheer boredom, or really having nothing else to do, came this not very well thought out idea of pulling off a heist at their local university library. Whether the following events were true, or not, either way the film makes for some of the most thrilling times you are bound to see in a theatre thus far this year and it has a great mix of comedic scenes, drama as well as a good sense of suspense and timing when the said heist is actually attempted. The young actors here who I am mostly unfamiliar with all do a very commendable job of showing you what drives them to do this event all at the same time showing that we can not always figure out the reason they did it. The parents don't seem to be overly involved in the film, but whether that was factual, or just an aspect they didn't seem to show I don't know. One of the main characters we see his parents living in a very strained and dysfunctional relationship that later leads to divorce and you can't help but wonder if that had any effect on the decisions that this character would later make in the film. Otherwise these characters seemed to be bored and had little else going on in life and as we hear from their very own mouths, we see that they regret the decision to ever get involved in these events and if they had sitten down and thought rationally, or talked to an older, or more mature person, these events most likely would not have been carried out. It is a fascinating yet disturibing look at society and what makes and triggers people to do the things that so often destroy not only ourselves but those and our society around us. American Animals doesn't try by answering any of these questions, but instead takes us on a thrilling ride that is just as much for contemplation as it is for entertainment and with that perfect balance it becomes one of this year's must see films.

frankkaren-30172 The whole thing was utterly ridiculous, supposedly true but still ridiculous. Four idiots. So many "holes" in the thought process of these four main characters that it's embarrassing to think they actually "walk among us" and believed this heist would have a positive ending. One of the worst movies we've seen this year; we wasted our money and over 2 hrs of our time.