Silver and the Book of Dreams

This is a story for teen-aged girls. I don't say that as a criticism, but to set expectations. I got half-way thru it and had to quit. The story is too simple, with no real backstory, and too saccharin for most adults. It could use a dose of darkness to up the age appeal - even Dr Who does that in it's modern incarnation.

I do think it is well produced and well acted by the young adults actors. It has generally good visuals and not cheap CGI. Parts of the dialog are in German without subtitles so I had to watch with closed caption.

Checkout The Magicians for an example of an adult-oriented fantasy magic story.

German school girl Liv is forced to relocate to London, along with her sister, when her mother remarries. On her first night there she has a strange dream; in it she encounters a group of boys who were taking part in a ritual in a graveyard. On her first day at her new school she discovers the boys are real and attend the same school. She learns that the boys are in possession of a book that explains how to enter other people's dreams. It also explains how a group of four boys and a maiden may use it to make a dream come true. Inevitably Liv is invited to become that maiden. They perform the ritual not realising there is a catch. A catch that could be deadly for Liv. Will she be able to unravel the puzzle before it is too late and just who can she trust?

I have not read the book on which this is based, and judging by other reviews that may be a good thing as far as enjoying the film goes. The story is solid enough. It wastes no time getting into the action. Similarly it doesn't take too long before Liv, and the viewer, learns of the danger and its potentially lethal outcome. There is a good sense of paranoia as the list of people Liv thinks may be out to harm her increases. There are some decent twists and turns along the way. The look of the dream scenes in good; sometimes it is obvious other times less so. The cast, none of whom I recall seeing in anything before, does a solid job. Overall I wouldn't say this was a must see but passed ninety minutes well enough; I suspect it will appeal more to the YA market.

This could have been a great YA fantasy movie! The actual bare bones of the idea is fantastic, but the delivery was really disappointing.

I think one of the main issues is that its trying to create too much conflict in too many areas, which results in you never being emotionally invested in any of them and it all falls flat and 'meh'.

So you're introduced to a family conflict with the female lead, a conflict over a dead parent, an additional conflict with her new family members, a conflict with the ensemble characters, and another conflict with family members within that ensemble, and another with the antagonist. See what I mean? What are you supposed to care about?? The beginning drags unnecessarily with the initial couple of concepts (which are never properly resolved) and then thrown into the next ones with no emotional investment.

I don't like being down on young actors normally, but in this instance none of their performances were strong enough to overcome a bad and bloated script, and the main character was actually pretty unlikeable. Rude, curt, with bizarre emotional outbursts, it doesnt make any sense why everyone seems to love her.

I was left with the impression that there was a large amount of fat to trim from this film. It didnt need 80% of the supposed conflict, it just needed one - the main characters guilt, thats it. And it would have had a much more powerful effect than the ocean of crap ruining it.

I found it a shame because the fantasy and dream walking aspect would have been much more fun to lean into more and explore. I finished it really disappointed.

Fantasy films like this are such a guilty pleasure! I remember watching stuff like maze runner and divergent growing up and always loved film for things like that. They're always just entertaining and throw you into a world of imagination and excitement. And this brought me back entirely. It had a cast that gave it their all, a main character i fell in love with and a story I've never heard before.

The dream hall stuff in particular was so cool, and the group dynamics really made me think of my old dystopian favourites, they really bounced off of each other well. It was a great watch! I liked it a lot.

I've read the book more then 100 Times and so I know every detail. To be honest I think the director of the movie never read the book because not even 1 detail is like the book. The entire Plot of the Movie is different. If I hadn't this emotional connection to the Book I would give 1 Star even that the Movie is nothing like the Book. Was it to hard to stick to the Book like why is Liv's dad death and not living in Germany. An really Graysons wish being to be Students President what a joke. I am actually sad about how nothing from the book is adapted and Characters are just not there even my favourite character Lotti is just not there.