It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Okay, for a TV movie this one isn't very bad. Frankly, if you can see beyond that, it's actually relatively enjoyable. 1992 must have been Beethoven's year in cinema: we got a movie about a lovable St. Bernard named after the famous musician and this TV movie in the same year.'Beethoven Lives Upstairs' cannot be considered a biographical film, but more of an introduction to Beethoven aimed mostly at youngsters. This less than 60 minutes movie is not only about Beethoven but also about a high-society young boy named Cristoph. Guess what, Beethoven is Cristoph's upstairs neighbor, hence the film's title. Like most people, Cristoph can't stand living near Beethoven. Overhearing the noise all day long drives him crazy. For him, Beethoven is a fruitcake, literally. But when he learns that Beethoven has a miserable life, works very hard and wants to change the world with his music, he understands him better and develops a friendship with him.But, even though Beethoven wins the boy's respect, he doesn't convince everyone. Many people still cannot put up with Beethoven because he has a short temper. In real life, Beethoven was known for his temper as much as for his musical talent. People like Beethoven were poor, lonely and worked hard for their music, so it's understandable that they were bitter.This film was shot in Prague (Czech Republic) and Canada. Its cinematography is refined and classic, with unquestionable beauty. Illya Woloshyn is excellent as Christoph and he looks a lot like Kevin Zegers from 'Air Bud'. Neil Munro does a decent job as Beethoven. But there are some flaws, such as the fact that this movie says that Beethoven is working on his 7th Symphony when in reality he is working on the 9th.

I first saw this movie 12 years ago, as a first grade student. I didn't think much about it - it was a really neat movie, and I was jealous that Christoph got to meet someone who I'd always heard adults refer to with reverence and admiration. I don't think I really realized how much I'd enjoyed it until we were given the opportunity to buy the film. I didn't have enough saved to buy the VHS, but I could afford the cassette soundtrack. When it arrived I was so excited. I took it home and spent hours listening to the story over and over, until I could practically recite it word for word. As I grew up, I would occasionally stumble across it and listen to the story again with a smile. Now, as a freshman in college, I'm taking a course on Beethoven's Symphonies. I credit my interest to seeing this movie as a child. It's a fantastic film for children. Is it on the same level as Amadeus? No, but it's still very much worth watching, and is a great way to introduce the great classical composers to young minds.

I have seen this movie many times and even own it. It is excellently written and produced. I have shown it to my piano students to give them a better understanding of the life of Beethoven. It is very definitely kid friendly as opposed to "Immortal Beloved" because of the content.The young boy goes through an adjustment period after having lost his father, that is compounded by having what appears at first glance to be a monster living upstairs in his house. The 'monster' of course turns out to Beethoven! When showing it to young children as part of a class, it is recommended that one should give a bit of background on exactly who Beethoven is and that these events are not happening in real time. They may tend to buy into the events a little too much. Explanation might also be needed about his deafness. The actor who portrayed Beethoven did a very excellent job of getting across the difficulty of being able to hear so much wonderful music in your head but always knowing the frustration of never being able to actually hear it.The costumes are very accurate for the period and the cinematography is also very good. I give this movie, eight stars!

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).