A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

If you boil "The Beaver" down to its essence, it is a movie about depression. Had the film focused on that singular issue, I think it would have been a much clearer overall experience. Instead, things never quite seemed to come together in support of that goal.For a basic plot summary, "The Beaver" tells the story of Walter Black (Mel Gibson), a man suffering from crippling depression. When wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) finally cuts ties with him, Walter is on the verge of suicide...until a beaver puppet plucked from a trash heap begins talking to him. Walter adopts the "Beaver" persona and seems to be turning his life around. But, is it real change or just a sham? Concurrent to this main plot, Walter's son Porter (Anton Yelchin) is struggling with similar issues of his own, both inflamed and helped by a new relationship with fellow HS student Norah (Jennifer Lawrence).The problem with "The Beaver" is quite easy to identify (some spoilers here): the stuffed beaver component that makes up the core of the film is never really explained. Why does Walter pick up the puppet to begin with? Why does it start talking? How does that alternate personality help Walter cope with his depression? None of those questions are answered over the course of the movie. There is a great speech around the midpoint of the movie where Walter/Beaver talks about "breaking out of the box" and "getting a fresh start". That was the only scene in the entire film where I started to get a sense of what director Jodie Foster was trying to convey. Other than that, however, everything else is so vague in how things are supposed to fit together.The subplot featuring Yelchin & Lawrence is plagued by a similar disconnect. Both young actors have great chemistry with each other, but I just never understood how that angle was supposed to sync up to set up the ending (which I won't disclose here).Thus, despite the fact that I think movies about depression (still very much a taboo topic in many circles) can be very powerful, "The Beaver" just never gets near that point. A concept this odd needs to be explained, and the filmmakers chose not to do it. As such, it was difficult to connect the dots in how the narrative is supposed to create emotion and make viewers care.

This is as weird as I thought it would be.Puppet Therapy is never this extensive. In addition to the obvious fact that it is used with children. I only decided to watch it because I am watching all of Miss Lawrence's films (as always, she performed gloriously, portraying a troubled high school valedictorian).Has anyone else noticed how much Foster looks like Hunt? Enough for me to be thinking about "What Women Want" for a significant part of the film.I will say, though, that Mel Gibson did manage an impressive rendition of the clinically depressed. (Attribute his personal life details here.) There were also a few memorable quotes. "This is a picture of Walter Black, a hopelessly depressed individual. Somewhere inside him is a man who fell in love. Who started a family. Who ran a successful company. That man has gone missing. No matter what he's tried, and he's tried everything, Walter can't seem to bring him back. It's as if he's died, but hasn't had the good sense to take his body with him. So mostly what he does is sleep." (I know how he feels.) "This is a picture of Walter Black, who had to become The Beaver, who had to become a father, so that one day this might just become a picture of Walter Black." (I love how The Beaver narrates the opening lines, but, by the closing lines, Walter has regained himself and is the one doing the narrating.) "Today I'm here to warn you, that you are being lied to. Our parents, our teachers, our doctors, have lied to us. And it's the exact same lie. The same six words, 'Everything is going to be okay'. What if it isn't? What if some of human experience is just something you inherit, like curly hair and blue eyes? What if pain is just in your DNA, and tragedy is your birthright? Or what if, sometimes, right out of the blue, when you least expect it, something changes?" "I'm not okay, not at all. What do I do with that? What do any of us do? Besides lie. This is what I believe, right now there is someone who is with you, someone who is willing to pick you up, dust you off, kiss you, forgive you, put up with you, wait for you, carry you, love you. So while everything may not be okay, one thing I know is true, you do not have to be alone." "We reach a point where, in order to go on, we have to wipe the slate clean. We start to see ourselves as a box that we're trapped inside and no matter how we try and escape, self help, therapy, drugs, we just sink further and further down. The only way to truly break out of the box is to get rid of it all together. I mean, you built it in the first place. If the people around you are breaking your spirit, who needs them? Your wife who pretends to love you, your son who can't even stand you. I mean, put them out of their misery. Starting over isn't crazy. Crazy is being miserable and walking around half asleep, numb, day after day after day. Crazy is pretending to be happy. Pretending that the way things are is the way they have to be for the rest of your bleeding life. All the potential, hope, all that joy, feeling, all that passion that life has sucked out of you. Reach out, grab a hold of it, and take it back." "Funny. I think it is a mess (her graffiti art), but you think it is amazing. I think you are amazing, but you think you are a mess." **** Spoilers **** I understand the idea, the personification, the fact that he has a mental illness. But making The Beaver come alive, having some sort of psychotic episode, then trying to saw off his hand crossed some sort of line. It is not that I do not empathize. I assure you that I have seen my share of real life psychotic episodes; that scene in particular seemed unrealistic to me. I am not sure whether or not it has to do with the fact that it was Mel Gibson.

The Beaver is a movie that has a lot to say. Some may think because of the plot or the poster that it's a comedic movie, but nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a very serious movie that gets pretty dark at times. Jodie foster brilliantly directs this moving film. And she, Mel, Anton, and Jennifer all turn in fantastic dramatic performances. Gibson especially gives a great lead performance, his character is so complicated and has so many different aspects to him, from the spilt personality to the deeply depressed state he's stuck in. Mel and Jodie have great on screen chemistry too, whether they are fighting or in love and happy, they work so well together and they really grab you and make you believe everything that is happening. The movie is not long at all, about 1 hour and 25 minutes, which is a good suitable length because it's not the type of film that needs to stretch on for a long time, it says and accomplishes what it needs to in a good time. Jennifer Lawrence and Anton yelchin have really chemistry too and they are just great actors on their own, so they were both great choices. 8/10!

I saw this movie last night for the first time. I've done my best to remove any possible spoilers in this review. I had heard about it when it came out, and it had always been on my radar, so I finally made time to watch it. First off, I suspect we need to discuss Mel Gibson. If I recall, this was his first big movie after getting splattered across the press for some poor behavior, and the general movie-viewing public largely turned against him.Well, I am not here to comment on any off-screen antics, merely the movie and the talent involved. Mel Gibson is a tremendous actor. That statement is very well displayed in this movie. He is helped by a very strong supporting cast, and an interesting story about a subject that, overall, nobody is comfortable talking about or dealing with. Having read the trivia, I get why it took Jodie Foster awhile to get a backer for the movie because she did not want to change the ending. I found myself with a mix of thoughts on that - I side with Ms. Foster in not wanting to change the ending of the story, however I might have fought for changing how it was displayed/portrayed to the audience. Not that what she chose didn't work, it did, but I'm considering the overall 'feel' of the movie at that point. Honestly, from what I had remembered from the trailers, I thought this would be more comedic. It is still a serious subject matter, and there are comedic moments to be had, don't get me wrong! But this does lean very much more to the serious side. It of course also includes a few other sub-plots to round out the overall story - the two children provide their own personalities and issues that need to be dealt with; and the wife trying to balance everything going on along with maintaining her own responsibilities as well as sanity is expertly done by Ms. Foster. And the end makes sense, ultimately. And it provides some things the story needs to tie things up, and to make it a movie worth watching, albeit a bit...tragically? Or at the least, unfortunately. I do recommend watching The Beaver. While it includes Mel Gibson, and dear readers I semi-understand those that won't watch anything with him in it, but remember he's not the only person in it. :-) It does deal with the very serious subject of depression, and is well worth the watch.