I was thoroughly immersed in this story of a man who handles his depression by speaking through his hand-puppet, a discarded beaver doll picked up from the trash. Jodie Foster impresses as both director and actress, and she succeeds in extracting fine performances from her strong cast with Mel Gibson as the convincing lead. The part when Gibson's character tries to break loose from the dominating beaver personality is genuinely scary. And though they play an estranged couple, Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson share real chemistry whenever their characters are together. The story is affecting, and the music score is sublime. I have found myself falling asleep while watching movies with lots of noise and action; this engaging little work had no problem holding my attention from beginning to end.
Review of The Beaver
