User reviews

When I saw the name Timothy Spall, I thought this was going to be great, surely such a great actor would only sign up to a great film right, wrong? Him apart it is a poor film, I've not read the book, but I'll judge the film based on what I've seen. Quite simply put, the ideas and plot are excellent, and rather original. What it lacked sadly, was any pace, urgency, tension or real threat, it's another so called horror movie that is advisable for people up to the age of fifteen. Spall is the only real positive, but he's wasted here. 4/10

I really went in to watching this film with high hopes. Teenager discovers she has hidden powers and tries to rescue her younger brother. Story starts off well and had my interest for about 30 minutes in and THEN it fell flat. The actors are actually perfect but the movie tried to form chemistry between the main actor and actress in a way that did not fit with the movie. There was a lack of build up for the audience, I kept waiting to be amazed while the main actress discovers herself but truth is she remained boring until the very end. This movie could have been great, may be lack of funding but something was wrong so therefore i could only give it a 3/10.

I didn't know anything about the novel. I mainly watched it because I saw Timothy Spall's name. I found this movie engaging. Because of an element in the plot a large part of the movie has a surreal, dreamlike quality. The young female lead, Erana James, is very good. She has a fierceness that makes her character very believable. I'm not a huge fan of 'young adult' fiction. I usually find it condescending to its target audience but I got into this movie pretty quickly and it kept me to the end. Definitely worth a watch if you're channel surfing and come across it.

Young adult book adaptations into sickly movies have been a thing for a while now, from Twilight to the Host to Divergent to Hunger Games and beyond. Here we see New Zealand have a go at it, and it's the same as the US tends to deliver.

Telling the story of a girl who must face an evil force in order to save her little brother this is a witchy themed thing, and the above description of sickly most definitely applies.

Starring Timothy Spall and Lucy Lawless I'm being a tad generous here, it's a really quite bad film.

You see it's your usual teen angst vs less than normal love interest vs nonsensical convoluted plot hole ridden concept. To make matters worse the two leads are awful! Nicholas Galitzine is your stoic dull mysterious brooding "Hunk" and Erana James is the Kiwi Kristen Stewart and has the acting ability of a brick. The two of them pick one facial expression at the start and continue it for the full duration of the movie.

If you like your schmaltzy teen angst nonsense then you might enjoy this, otherwise steer clear.

The Good:

Spall is oddly on form

Decent soundtrack

The Bad:

So much teen angst!

The two leads have the emotional range of a fart

McKenzie and Harcourt do an admirable job bringing the novel to a present day setting, with excellent award-winning cinematography. Built on themes of the dangers of 'inviting' trouble upon yourself and/or others, accepting yourself for who you are and the 'magic' within you, and sibling bonds, "The Changeover" is a fine addition to New Zealand's growing film history. Excellent performances are provided by Spall and especially Erana James. James is one to keep and eye on for years to come. It's not among the best of 2017, but it's certainly a well-made film worthy of your time if it sounds like something that might interest you.

I so want to give this movie a 10/10 but it was awful. Spall was believable and understood the character Carmody, Sorensen's character not so much, there was so much behind Sorensen that we didn't get to see. Winter & Miryam worked well though, again more padding could have been put around these two. As someone who has read the book and actually cherishes the original copy, it could have been so much more. The basic plot line is there, with a few twists that are not in the book, yet that is to be expected when transforming book to film. It just didn't knit together, there were so much empty space that begged to be filled. Perhaps finances were an issue. As a book, it's one I hope to continue to re-read and lose myself in in my dotage. The film, not so much. Although I've just purchased the film (to go with the book), I would still like to say Thank you for 'having a bash' at it. (fingers crossed someone will come along and have another go) Could do better all round.

Not an amazing film but definitely not a bad one either. I liked the plot as it was a bit original. It not scary but has it's creepy moments. Definitely worth the watch

So much better than the 5.2 it currently rates. The movies I turn off before the end rate 5 or lower, this movie kept me interested all the way through. OK, it's not a GREAT movie, but it is a good one. A fresh approach to the overworked good witch/bad witch theme. A good script, some very competant acting and the backdrop of the earthquake devastated New Zealand cityscape woven together expertly on a meagre budget. This isn't a trashy Hollywood teen-movie, this is a genuine chiller. The versatile Timothy Spall pulls this movie together expertly, and it would be no exaggeration to say the movie would be a great deal poorer without him. That isn't to detract from the skills of others involved, they were all very good. It's just that the storyline wouldn't have worked so well in lesser hands. A good effort all round. Bravo New Zealand, keep 'em coming !!

Timothy Spall counts for a good 5 of those 7 stars. He plays the sinister bad guy absolutely perfectly.

The rest is...flawed. There are some great moments, great ideas, great little bits of dialogue, but it's so disjointed and with so many bits that take away from the good that it feels a shame.

I don't know if it's the writing, the directing or the editing, but at some point it went wrong and a good idea lost it's flow.

Nonetheless, if you're a fan of the genre, I'd recommend it

This film legit reviewers/ratings probably average to 2 out of ten stars after discounting shill reviews. It is narrative train wreck. It is also a significant, in fact profound dumbing down and making "safe" of what was a great teen novel.

I like witches, I liked the story, but that was wayyy too long of a movie. It was really boring and it saddens me a bit because this movie had a lot of potential.

A teenage girl (Erana James) has to save her kid brother from the clutches of malevolent warlock Timothy Spall by becoming a witch, in this New Zealand made Twilight saga wannabe that has some solid performances and arty pretentions to recommend it. It is based on the 1984 young adult fantasy novel of the same name by Margaret Mahy.

I liked this movie, good story, and shows how you can do a movie without special effects. Good writing and good story, my only complaint? Too long and a little to... psychedelic for my taste

Based on the classic of literature, this is a short film that seems to me to be a long, interesting story but very ornamental to be taken seriously, there is no context of history and no development, you disconnect, and it becomes heavy, not enjoyable.

Great little movie from down over. This New Zealand film is about a family, new to a community, having just overcome their own tragedy, and meeting a parasite out to suck the lifeforce from the little brother and straight-up possess and use anyone else for his own means of living forever. Theres no overblown and outlandish battle scenes with all sorts of scare tactics and things being thrown about and destroyed during confrontations between the main characters. No, its a smart, simple, subtle, low-key, straight to the point, progression with no side track sub plots to district your focus away from the main plot about a man, with a supernatural ability and force, that only one girl can stop, but will it be in time to save her little brother. Maybe with help from another family and finding herself from within she can changover and become who she needs to be to defeat the evil element. This is a very smart, fast paced film, straight to point, no dilly dallying about and very little time for subplots although the themes of family and freindship and love and trust and kindness shines througout. The actors worked with a surprisingly good script which kept this film safely inside the lines, the location was fitting and realistic, the directing and special effects made it believable, and for a so called low budget film the cast was mostly A listers and they all did a great job. The simplicity of the film is what made it work. This film genre can be hit or miss but this one was dead on. Well worth the watch.

From the outset I had high hopes for this film. I love a good New Zealand indie. The cinematography was great, a fantastic soundtrack and not half bad acting. And the story had some promise, but about halfway through it just got silly. The storyline had so many holes and was just unbelievable.

Not the worst movie I've seen and its a fine 90 minutes if you have the time to waste.

As for the first 5 or 6 reviews here giving it 9 or 10/10.. give me a break. Clearly bogus reviews.

So I love The Wilds and I wanted to see some of Erana James's (Toni) earlier work. Her acting is incredible, as well as her dynamics with the other characters/actors. I really don't have any issues with this movie. I don't know why it has such bad reviews.

IMBD composite rating is too low. In my book it's a 7 to 8. Yes, it does have a "coming of age story." It doesn't have first rate production quality and score (probably public domain stuff). But the story, acting sequencing is first rate. Thoroughly entertaining.

As so many reviewers said before me, silly, silly, silly. What a waste of time from a director who needs to get a lot more experience in directing. So she's been a voice coach for Nicole Kidman what makes her a director? I have won many awards for directing on stage but unfortunately didn't know the right people to get into film.

Just a really bad teen movie. Not horror. Not interesting. Just a complete waste of 100 minutes.