Empathy and civility are cynically brushed off as performative and self-soothing, as if the film wants you only to believe in the restorative methods that it’s selling.

However, when it comes to critiquing a film adaptation, one thing is pretty clear from years of doing this: when the film doesn’t work, the problem often lies in the choices made when adapting the source material.

Ultimately, the problem is the decision to show us far too much of the rather shoddy-looking crow, which makes the film literal, prosaic and faintly absurd.

The fact that the film can’t find its footing in the realm of fantasy - neither in horror nor in adjacent forms - leaves it as a hybrid between a children’s fable and a somewhat overwrought autobiographical tale. [Full review in Spanish]