3.5 out of 5 stars

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2002)

England in the 1980s was the time of Margaret Thatcher, labor unrest, and the political shouting matches-not dancing. This does little to stop Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell), the son and brother of two striking coal miners in a working class town in northern England. Not cut out for the boxing his father has signed him up for, Elliot realizes he has a special talent for dance and joins a ballet group at the local gym. Being the only boy in the class and the only male ballet student in town does not bother Billy, but it does bother his macho father (Gary Lewis), who is dealing with the loss of his wife and the downtrodden existence of mining. While most around him equate dancing with homosexuality, Billy persists in his desire to dance, spurned along by the local dance teacher (Julie Waters) and a desire to make it out of his poor mining town into the Royal Ballet School. `Billy Elliot' overcomes a slow, formulaic start to provide an inspirational tale about determination and doing what you love. While some of the characters are given short shrift, Elliot is a wonderfully developed young boy with a talent no one gives him credit for. It brings some laughs but is more correctly described as an important fable on the pursuit of dreams.