Liam Neeson thinks there are ''life lessons'' for everyone who sees 'A Monster Calls'.

The 64-year-old actor voices the 'monster' - a giant humanoid yew tree - in the upcoming film, and thinks the saga, which sees his character tell stories to Conor O'Malley (Lewis MacDougall) and help the youngster repair his troubled life, is more than just a children's film.

He said: ''The monster is there to try and teach life lessons, to imbue the idea that nothing is ever as it seems.

''And, of course, the overriding element in this story is that this boy is going to have to cope with the death of the greatest love he'll ever have in his life, which is his mother [who has a terminal illness].

''It certainly isn't just a children's film. There's life lessons in it for all of us.''

And Liam thinks fairytales are important to everyone to help them better understand life.

He added to SFX magazine: ''We all need, and love, stories, you know. That's why fairytales were written - I'm thinking in particular of Oscar Wilde's beautiful children's stories, that have profound lessons built into them - and they're usually about how complex life actually is.

''I mean, the stories that the monster tells the boy, they never turn out the way you think they should turn out, because life isn't like that.''

And the Irishman thinks it was important to retain his natural accent for the character.

He said: ''I wanted to use my own accent. Because its old in itself, it's Celtic, and I think in the audience's imagination Irish accents give a kind of weight and an ancient quality.''