Highly Overrated But Still Good

An Exercise In Nonsense

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

There is none of the sentimental and heroic garbage in this movie that one sees portrayed in the lives of other great men.This movie, while recognizing Beethoven's Genius, takes him off his Mount Olympus Pedestal and makes him a real life breathing, seeing and hearing though going deaf man who runs a business, works every day, bathes, shaves and does all the things that ordinary men do. Munroe is very convincing in his portrayal as well as his appearance. I do not know what he looks like in real life but if he looks anything like Beethoven in real life I would think that I had met Beethoven's Ghost. While the viewing audience for this film is aimed for children--it is also a good film for adults to see.

No wonder a lot of us hate classical music; and what are the children to think? With "educational" PR like this, serious music will soon slip from life support to the morgue. Kids know when they're being talked down to, and this is no exception; why can't someone good do a movie about classical music for kids? I must admit, I enjoyed the actor who played Beethoven, he took to the role with enthusiasm and a keen balance of the poignant and humorous aspects of Beethoven's character; he obviously did his research. Otherwise, this is a third rate rehash of the old ABC Afterschool Special format, with none of the occasional charm those short films had. Sorry about the rant, but this is an important subject for young people to know about, and it could have been done well; I wonder if musicians or filmmakers were responsible? Either way, the kids are hipper than you think, folks...Medtner

This movie was told from the point of view of a child, as the title implies, and I believe it largely succeeds for that audience. It's easy to see how a child would find this imposing man frightening - he bosses people around and gets away with it, he's loud, he's peculiar, and he's very angry. The journey for the boy is from fear to awe, and seeing that the Beethoven's pain and struggle had a purpose: it was not madness at all. This is not a comprehensive portrayal of Beethoven, but shows younger viewers that people are not always what they appear, and are worth understanding. It also shows that great accomplishments sometimes have a high price associated with them.I found this movie while channel surfing, and it held my attention partially because it made frequent use of Beethoven's wonderful music.

Beethovan Lives Upstairs is a very bad movie. In my World History class, our teacher had us watch this movie and Amadeus to be able to compare the two composers or something. We watched Amadeus first and it was a very good movie, but when she had us watch this movie directly after that, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The acting was horrific, the costumes were ugly (the little boy's was especially ugly and girlish), and the cinematography was z-grade. My Friend compared it to a home movie without the date display in the bottom right corner. I understand this was a T.V. movie from Canada and probably cost $10 to make, but please, they could have done better. I have seen a few good T.V. movies in my time, but this was not one of them. The biggest thing that I don't understand is why my World History class couldn't just watch Immortal Beloved or something. How is it possible to compare composers when given the movie Amadeus, for Mozart, and Beethovan Lives Upstairs, for Beethovan? It's not possible to do that when this is the choice of movie for Beethovan. I give Amadeus an A- (9 out of 10) if anyone cares to know, but Beethovan Lives Upstairs gets an F (1 out of 10).