Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: Movie Review
Tim Burton’s “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is based on the novel by Ramson Riggs and is the closest thing the we have gotten to classic Burton in quite some time. However, don’t get too excited. Although “Miss Peregrine” has quite a bit of that old school “Burton” feel, it is saddled with such sluggish pacing that the two-hour feature feels more like three-hours. I found myself utterly bored through a large chunk of the film.
After the mysterious death of his grandfather (Terence Stamp) 16-year-old Jake (Asa Butterfield) discovers clues that lead him to a secret refuge known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which is run by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green). What makes this place unique is that it is set in a time loop during a day in history before the home is bombed by Nazis.
The only people who can make their way into this moment in time from the present is if they possess abilities. All of the children in the home have special gifts. One child is invisible, another can set fire to anything she touches, and so on. Jake’s ability isn’t quite clear until later on, but he does find himself drawn to Emma (Ella Purnell). She is weightless and must wear shoes made of iron to keep her from floating away. She can also manipulate air, which comes in handy later in the story.
It turns out the person/creature responsible for the death of Jake’s grandfather is Mr. Barron (Samuel L. Jackson), the same man that wants to find Miss Peregrine’s home. Barron has turned himself and his friends into vicious creatures during the experiment and the only way to keep his humanity is to consume the eyes of the peculiar. Jake must decide if he wants to return home to his own time, or help Miss Peregrine and the children from the evil that is coming.
“Miss Peregrine” is visually stunning, like most Burton films and has moments of absolute genius. The fight between the creatures and reanimated skeletons on an amusement park pier is fantastic. It was clearly inspired by the classic stop-motion animated creature fights I grew up with. Unfortunately, the rest of the film didn’t impress me all that much. The performances and visuals are fine but it lacked magic. I keep hoping Burton would return to his roots. I feel working with a more limited budget could help as he tends to go overboard on big productions. “Miss Peregrine” is a step in the right direction, it just isn’t any fun.
By: Marc Ferman