Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Blistering performances.

Passionate about dance, a teenage boy secretly attends ballet classes and has deal with his father discovering his secret in this British drama starring Jamie Bell. The film may only have the most obvious of messages to offer in terms of the virtues of individualism and the hurtfulness of gender stereotypes, but it still leaves quite an impact with Bell in strong form. Bell has his own prejudices that he learns to deal with, fighting his own preconceptions that all other boys who do ballet are "bent" and Bell gives us a multi-dimensional character with a love for dance that resonates but also much internal anger. Julie Walters is equally as impressive as his spunky ballet teacher and they really carry the film. The less said about Bell's father, the better though. His father changes so quickly from being against ballet to in favour of it that the progression never rings true. The film has some crafty moments though in which the father's difficulties with work and participation in demonstrations are edited against Bell dancing. More could have probably been made of Bell emerging from such working class origins, but the film has plenty to like as it is with its celebration of dance as something that boys and girls can both succeed at.

I was forced to watch Billy Elliot when I was younger in high school as part of film study. I disliked it then but as time goes on and you grow up I thought I would find some appreciation for it. It didn't happen, in fact, I see further frustrations in this mediocre and terrible film. While it may be grounded in realism, the story and setting of rural England does not make good story telling or directing. It is a painful experience to watch a boring child who hails from an even more boring family and town try and be a ballet dancer. The story was so bland and dull and none of the acting performances really stand out. The funny thing is this film could have been made beautifully. Directors have done wonders with less interesting stories through good directing, symbolism, storytelling and soundtrack. This was a horrible and terrible mess. An absolute travesty that must be avoided.

In my personal experience, most films that have come with a lot of hype and where critics have waxed lyrically of them I have found somewhat disappointing. Unfortunately, for me, Billy Elliott falls into that category.Not that it is a bad film. one of the problems I have is as with so many British and American films of today, it lacks depth in as much as instead of discussing it's subject, it presents it in an exploratory manner where we see its facade but not entirely what is behind it.Stephen Daldry's film tells the story, with a script by Lee Hall, of a young boy (Jamie Bell) who during a boxing practicing session, witnesses a group of girls being instructed in ballet by dancing tutor Mrs Wilkinson (Julie Walters) which inspires him to take an interest in the discipline.Wilkinson hands him a pair of ballet shoes ( which just happened to be the right size) and invites him to join in. Having developed such a keen interest, and not wanting to upset his apparently bigotry father ( Gary Lewis) Billy decides to cautiously take up the offer.After successfully concealing for some time his newly found ambition from his family, his father finally discovers him in one of Wilkinson's lessons and interrupts the class to display his displeasure,much to the annoyance of Wilkinson.His fathers use of bigotry is for me, A major let down in the film because While it is perfectly acceptable to have an opinion on a given situation or person, the belief of a bigot is usually unreasonable, unfair, biased and without research or foundation. It is because of that criteria we are left with a somewhat shallow film in which instead of going deep into the subject and discussing it thoroughly and therefore making it rich in dialogue, (and such film making today is possible, even in Hollywood. Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight are prime examples) we are left with a vehicle where the father's narrow-mindedness forms a big part of the families dysfunction.Hall's decision to portray the dad as a (striking) miner was Unnecessary as was the grandmothers dementia. The character's pre occupation with the sub plots(and even they did not have much depth) distracted from the main subject in hand.His father finally comes round to the idea of Billy becoming a ballet dancer. It is another part of the films weakness that it does this without any qualified link between the father being anti and pro.Apart from Billy's impromptu thirst for ballet, there was not that much inspiration in the story to warrant him auditioning for and being accepted in its school.Several years later Billy is a young adult (Played by Adam Cooper)(It's amazing that Billy and mike aged while the father hadn't) fully fledged as a ballet dancer and performing in Swan Lake.Bell, Lewis, and Walters played their respective parts convincingly, and did their best with what little they were given, as did all the other actors, but the film was sadly let down by lazy script writing and lack of depth in the characters. This is by no means the fault of the actors but that of the creative team who came up with a good idea and then watered it down with a total lack of character study.

A talented young boy (Jamie Bell) becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.Although this film is alright, it just really did not appeal to me. I have no real interest in ballet or dancing, so I could not connect with the main character. I understand the theme is broader than that -- that we all have talents and need to bring them out. That is a good message. Just did not hit me hard in this film.What is even more interesting is how much discussion this film seems to generate about sexuality, and whether or not Billy is gay. Some say he is, some say he is not. The real answer seems to be: why does it matter? Especially when you consider he is supposed to be 11 years old. His sexuality should not be anyone's concern!