Rating: 
Summary: What is this?
Review: This is by far the worst movie ive seen. its a big budget movie with a plot that goes nowhere. This movie is about a boy who wnats to do ballet. WOW! I could of thought of that myself and did a better job than this. The movie is filmed with bad picture quality and the actors cant even say ballet right, i mean whats balley? DEFINETELY NOT FOR ANYONE THAT INCLUDES BALLERINAS.
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Summary: Boxing vs. Ballet
Review: I started watching this movie unwillingly. The opening credits with Billy jumping on a trampoline to a drippy song didn't help. But when the story got going, and I was able to understand more and more of the Durham accent, I was hooked.There's quite a lot of social commentary lying right beneath the surface here, with the coal miners' strike going on, and Billy growing up without a mother. But what jumped out at me is the whole question of what makes a man. Obviously, whether a boy prefers boxing or ballet is not the measure. But how the men in the household and in the community respond when they are forced to deal with Billy's talent is complex and revealing. The VHS version also has interviews with the stars, director, and producers.(H. Cota)
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Summary: Don't Be Fooled By the Cover...
Review: When my friend recommended we see this film, I really didn't remember hearing about it. When I saw the cover, I realized I had passed by it in the video store a million times without interest. It seemed like the story of some little innocent kid having a good time...perhaps he would meet a fairy or a magical mushroom or something. Boy was I wrong on that one. This movie is truly one of the best I had seen in 2003...and I saw it at least twice and got different things out of it each time. The basic storyline is about an 11-year-old boy in a miner's family who discovers that he prefers to join the girls for ballet class rather than go to his boxing class. When his father finds out that he's been spending money & time to learn ballet, he completely flips out. (A little predictable, yes.) But, the storyline is complex enough that you are able to sympathize with the father's point of view. He & his older son are part of the HUGE miner's strike in the early 1980's in the Northern England the helped change the industry forever. This strike - and the resulting poverty of many in their town - is a draining & disabling blow for a tough man who has lost his wife, is trying to keep his older son in line, and has to cut up or sell every last thing he cherishes in order to keep his family alive. It is against this backdrop that one young boy discovers that he loves dance. Emotionally, you don't know where to turn. On one hand, you are delighted that this boy is able to find some sort of outlet for his pent-up anger, joy, sadness, fear & hope. On the other, you realize that this is not an ideal time or place for such a discovery...and the father has enough on his plate without needing to have a Disney-esque type transformation required of him. As the story progresses, it is perhaps a little predictable. (Except when Billy beats up the little rich boy. That was unexpected and fairly amusing.) However, I think the genius of the film lies not in the uniqueness of the plotline but rather in the human story told via this plotline. The acting is absolutely suberb as you are drawn into this tale of strikers battling policemen, the intense loyalty of the miners to each other, children beginning to grow up, a tough little boy finding an array of hope, and the unexpected support a bunch of burned-out characters can give to each other when their hope is renewed. I want to make a special mention of Billy's ballet teacher because I think she is one of my favorite movie characters. While Billy's father & brother & best friend, etc. are all great characters, I really loved this woman. She was as tough as nails and as burned out as a middle-class wife & mother could be in such a tough period...and yet you respect her for how she holds herself, for how she hangs on, and for her selfless interest in at least one little boy. I don't think she's an easy character to summarize & dismiss. BTW - a special note to viewers. This movie employs cursing as a way of expressing some of the emotion of the day. I don't think it's forced at all, and the British accent & terms don't make it as offensive to our ears. However, I wouldn't recommend you watch this if it will be a problem.
Rating:
Summary: A superb Irish toe-tapper
Review: Setting: Ireland in the mid-80s
Backdrop: A miner's strike, a lockout, poverty, anger
Setup: Billy's father has scraped together the $$ for his boxing lessons, but Billy would rather take ballet.
Plot: the local ballet teacher senses his genius, tutors him, and suggest he audition for the London Ballet
You can imagine how this goes down with his macho father and older brother...
The scenes of Billy dancing, leaping, flying through the town on the cobblestones will make every single person grin and tap their toes along with this gifted child performer.
In deft staging, Billy Elliot gently explores politics, religion, sexuality, and family relationships.
An absolute must-see movie for everyone, especially for those who are fans of all things Irish.
Rating: 
Summary: I like it (2)
Review: I should add that many ballet dancers ARE GAY though not all are - and I see absolutely nothing wrong with either fact (even though the director seems to in this film!). For the adult Billy in the last scene, the director could have chosen a better looking dude. This is a fine movie. I understand some people's complaints that the plot is, in retrospect, rather trite and predictable - like the whole time you keep saying to yourself, "What else could it be? I could've written the script myself!" But that's not the point: It is still a good film if it can move you.
Rating:
Summary: I like it
Review: Jamie Bell's acting talent is quite obvious in this debut. My only problems with this film are that the director seems to try too hard to prove there is no connection between being a ballet dancer and being gay (true enough), and that the heroine, the ballet instructor, is nowhere to be seen in Billy's moment of triumph. I couldn't have understood the dialogues without the aid of closed caption.
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Summary: A great English film!
Review: I was surpirised to read that in many american reviews the accent was mistaken for IRISH! as a proud citizen of the north east of england i would like to confrim that it is a strong GEORDIE accent which originates in Newcastle and has traveled to Durham.the film is very moving and shows how times were hard in the mid 80's during the iron lady's government.Jamie Bell is fantastic an thoroughly deserved his BAFTA,for which he beat the mighty Tom Hanks!. Once you get past the over used F~~~ word it is a joy to watch, the sound track is brilliant. Just dont expect anything to be sugar coated, its not that kind of film.
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Summary: Brilliant though flawed film
Review: A few points about Billy Elliot: * It is beautifully and realistically shot. The setting in general and the acting too are very reflective of Northern England and the atmosphere there. This is aided in particular by Gary Lewis, superb as the father, giving a really brilliant and realistic performance absolutely sewn in with emotion. * This is an important film, because part of its point is to destroy prejudices and stereotypes. Consequently, do not believe the reccomendations that you do not show this to your children: it teaches them more about life and the world and so forth than the problems you have have with the (only realistic, might I add) swearing, and the "homo-erotic" scene one reviewer mentions is in fact a very light and momentary kiss on the side of the cheek which is basically entirely non-sexual. Yes, one of the characters is gay (please note that Billy isn't), but assuming you're not homophobic I don't see why this is a problem in showing it to your children. * Bell's dancing is not entirely brilliant - he is not a trained ballet dancer, although he is trained in tap, presumably the reason why there is so much tap in the film. Though the lack of technical excellence is no problem as it shows Billy's exuberant, less technical and slightly haywire style as he is as yet undeveloped and untrained, and his style is indeed very different (as seen in front of the panel of judges at the school) from the status quo, there is one problem: using tap so much. If Billy isn't a technically excellent ballet dancer, he shouldn't really be a technically excellent tap dancer either, even if the actor is. It doesn't make sense in context of plot (ie where did Billy learn to tap dance?) and for me spoils his best dances, some of which are truly overflowing with boundless energy and youthful zest. * Using Adam Cooper at the end as adult Billy is a moment of genius. For those who don't know Adam Cooper is a brilliant male British dancer who played the lead in Matthew Bourne's adventurous all-male 'Swan Lake' - the production shown at the end. Though as far as I'm aware Cooper's story doesn't mirror Billy's, seeing Cooper's all-too-brief cameo dancing is an inspiring moment, and he unlike Bell is a technically brilliant dancer, which works because Billy's youthful, less controlled and exuberant dancing has been harnessed into something more precise and technical during the years at ballet school. * The soundtrack is a slight concern for me. 'London Calling' works very well, as do the old soul numbers, but my concern comes in using 'I Believe' as the title music. Firstly, it isn't a great song - though the words are intended as inspiring it comes across as cheesy and is against the flow of Billy's quiet determination and the gritty realism of the setting - its an all-out, cheesy song - but Billy would never sing this song. If we put his determination into music it would be a dramatic song of fire and grit - turbulent, driving, and so forth - saying 'I Believe' but in a rather different way. The second problem with using the song is that, if the film is trying to debunk prejudices (eg anyone who does ballet is gay), then why use a song by a notoriously gay artist? I'm not in the slightest homophobic - in fact I'm touched by and very much appreciate the scenes involving Michael - but I just see that using a song by a gay artist seems rather predictable and would serve to undo the work the film has done in debunking the stereotype in some people's minds. These, however, are minor flaws. Billy Elliot is a brilliant film in all: an inspiring one, a moving one, a gritty and realistic one. To combine these factors is rare, to do it and score a major hit is rarer. This is required viewing, and surely a classic which will stand the test of time.
Rating:
Summary: Unoriginal, manipulative and very overrated film
Review: Billy Elliot is perhaps the most overrated film of the last few years. And I say this becasue the direction of the film is awful, the narrative is MTV-like, and there are too many cliches and superficial characters that make this film completely forgettable.
Rating:
Summary: For all those who has a passion for art, or not
Review: A story about a boy who finds his dream in an unexpected turn. Detained after a boxing match, he discovers a ballet class and trades his boxing gloves for a pair of ballet shoes. Set in the mid 80's in Northern England where his family was entangled with a bedlam strike, he heads off to his classes despite the father's detestation. The film captured the devastation of an impoverished family of that era. And the delivery of Jamie Bell's (Billy Elliot) character and ingenious performance utterly depicted a child's vulnerability and rising amongst chaotic fragments in this world. You can't help but be invigorated by this child's passion.
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