DVD Reviews

The Beaver – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 27, 2011, 17:26 GMT

Walter, once a successful and happy family man, has hit rock bottom. But, in his darkest hour, he finds a rather unusual savior: a beaver hand-puppet that takes over Walter\'s life in an attempt to change things for the better. Academy Award® winner Jodie Foster directs and co-stars with Academy Award® winner Mel Gibson in a film critics call bold, complex, and funny. ...more

“It’s very big in Sweden.”

I sat down to watch the Beaver with my kid’s stuffed beaver toy.  When it was over I asked him for his thoughts on the film. 

It just stared at me blankly and refused to help me with the review. 

It didn’t even make cracks like trying to blame the Jews or “I thought when you told me we’d be seeing Jodie Foster’s beaver, I had a different film in mind.”  Damn stuffed animals.

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) is depressed.  So much so that all he does is sleep and his inherited toy company is failing.  His wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) is more concerned with conducting business interviews with Tokyo, dulled into finding purpose in work rather than dealing with the morose Walter. 

His oldest son Porter (Anton Yelchin) is obsessed with not emulating his father, but keeps busy and wealthy by running an underground term paper writing service.

His latest customer is the school valedictorian (Jennifer Lawrence) who is having trouble writing her speech.  His youngest son Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart) is a distant loner who is fading into the background at his elementary school. 

Meredith has had enough and kicks Walter out of the house.  He hits the liquor store, discovers a beaver hand puppet in the dumpster in which he throws away his personal effects, and heads for a hotel room where he proceeds to get drunk. 

Walter decides to end it all and after two failed suicides attempts knocks himself out by pulling the television on top of him.  When he awakens, the Beaver puppet is on his hand and begins to talk to him in a cockney accent… and what he says seems to make something turn around in Walter. 

So he goes back home, but insists that everyone address the opinionated Beaver and not Walter.  Things seem to improve in Walter’s life until the Beaver starts to gradually take over. 

Jodie Foster’s film can be seen on several levels.  It was imagined to be a possible comeback film for the dwindling Gibson, a black comedy, or maybe an earnest look at mental illness.  It didn’t seem to succeed on any of those fronts and that may be that it seems like the film doesn’t even know which of those it was supposed to be, Foster helping out her friend Mel notwithstanding. 

The movie may be considered a financial flop, but Gibson pulls out all the stops and still shows that he can act.  His performance is the best thing about the film.  I might’ve been more accepting if the film had gone completely dark more consistently maybe even more towards a horror movie. 

I recall that when Anthony Hopkins went up against a homicidal ventriloquist dummy in Magic we never really showed him operating the dummy when it told him to do bad things. 

We always see Mel’s mouth moving and doing the accent (which sounds like Bob Hoskins, Michael Caine, and Ray Winstone mixed together) so we know that this puppet is Walter’s id or maybe a separate personality brought on by the stress or the crack on the head. 

The comedy, of course, also comes from the fact that Mel has his hand shoved up a beaver’s bum and it does all his talking.  We can never really laugh too much since there’s always that darkness lurking on the periphery, especially towards the end. 

Yelchin and Lawrence are also excellent in their side story, Foster too adds depth to her character, and Steward is also great as the young son but his role disappears for a time as we focus on the adults (ironically just like the character he is playing).  I just wish the storyline had been pulled up to the level that the performances dictated. 

The Beaver is presented in widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include a commentary from director Jodie Foster, 5 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary from Foster, and the 12 minute “Everything is going to be OK” making of. 

The Beaver is a movie that I ultimately had mixed feelings over.  Gibson’s performance is top notch but it’s lost in a storyline that can’t seem to decide where it wants to go.  Just like Gibson’s media and personal train wreck, you may want to crane your head to watch the movie out of the same curiosity. 

It does prove that no matter what is going on; Mel still has the acting chops. 

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