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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound
The life of 11-year-old Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell), a coal-miner's son, is forever changed one day when he stumbles upon a ballet class during his weekly boxing lesson. Before long, he finds himself demonstrating the kind of raw talent seldom seen by the class' exacting instructor (Julie Walters).
"A movie to cheer about!" Leonard Maltin
"A triumph!" New York Observer
"Funny!" Mark Salisbury, Premiere
"A sure-fire crowd pleaser!" New York Daily News
Editor's Note
Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) is an 11-year-old boy living in northeast England in the mid-1980s. While his gruff father and brother are taking part in a massive coal miners strike, Billy goes to boxing lessons and furtively plays his dead mother's piano out of loneliness. One day Billy notices a ballet class nearby. Intrigued, he begins practicing and taking lessons from Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters), a tough-minded teacher. Billy begins to fall in love with ballet but keeps his lessons a secret from his family, who struggle to put food on the table while the strike drags on. When his father finally learns the truth, a family crisis erupts, and Billy struggles to prove that dancing is more than just a hobby--it's his dream. BILLY ELLIOT is a touching and heartwarming story that avoids clichés by setting the story in the grim mining town of northern England amid economic hardship and sacrifice, showing the joy and release that dancing provides for Billy. Newcomer Jamie Bell, who does all his own dancing in the film, deserves special credit for his performance as Billy.
| Features | Widescreen Version | | English 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital | | French 5.1 Surround Dolby Digital | | Film Highlights | | DVD-ROM | | Production Notes | | Theatrical Trailer | | Scene Access | | Interactive Menus | | Making Of Featurette | | Cast & Crew Bios | | Filmographies |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 3/4/2003 |
| Running Time: 111 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2000 | | Catalog ID: 21134 | | UPC: 00025192113420 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (2001) | | | Julie Walters, Nominee, Best Supporting Actress | | | Stephen Daldry, Nominee, Best Director | | | Lee Hall, Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen | |
Golden Globe (2001) | | | Julie Walters, Nominee, Best Supporting Actress |
| Memorable Quotes| Mrs. Wilkinson: "I've been thinking about the National Ballet School." Billy: "Aren't you a bit old for that, miss?" Mrs. Wilkinson: "Not for me, for you!" |
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| | Professional Reviews | Total Film
"...A heartwarming, toe-tapping delight....Daldry elicits a star-making turn from 14-year-old newcomer Jamie Bell..." -- 4 out of 5 stars 10/01/2000 p.81New York Times
"...Stephen Daldry anchors [the film's] melodramatic formula in tough, heartfelt realism....Jamie Bell [conveys a] convincing mixture of sullenness and innocent charm..." 10/13/2000 p.E29 USA Today
"...If Dickens had written FLASHDANCE after seeing THE FULL MONTY, it probably would have come out something like this infectious, feel-good bundle of ambition in the face of adversity..." -- 3.5 out of 4 stars 10/13/2000 p.1E Entertainment Weekly
"...An inspirational Brit-prole dance fable..." 11/17/2000 p.94 Box Office
"...Gracefully executed....The fleet-footed BILLY ELLIOT illustrates how classic storylines, in the right hands, can work over and over again..." 10/01/2000 p.70 Rolling Stone
"...Daldry scores a sensational film debut....Bell explodes onscreen in a performance that cuts to the heart..." 10/26/2000 p.122 Chicago Sun-Times
"...Jimmy Bell is an engaging Billy, earnest and high-spirited, and a pretty good dancer, too..." 10/13/2000 p.35 Salon.com 8 of 10
...a surprisingly wise and funny meditation on the nature of what it truly means to be a man... smarter and more sincere than your average Hollywood "gotta dance" story, smoothly paying homage to the musicals of yore while cleverly showcasing its own winning style. - Mary Elizabeth Williams
San Francisco Chronicle 9 of 10
...this deeply felt story is often comic but never for a moment cute. It is exhilarating... the best-directed film I've seen this year... [Jamie Bell] is a phenomenon. His presence is pensive, even grave, and he catches that moment when boyish curiosity turns into action... - Bob Graham
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