Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) Reviews

• Could've been a great film. Despite some intriguing story elements and a promising first act, it sadly ends up being OK.

  RockoDaFoxxo2016-10-02

  Just to clarify one thing: I don't hate Tim Burton at all. In fact, I kinda love his work. He has a very unique and imaginative vision, seems to have a tasteful choice for actors (besides Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter), and can really pour his heart and soul in some of his films like "Edward Scissorhands", "Corpse Bride", and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". But, just like any director, he has his missteps also. Some of his recent work is very lackluster and, at times, flat-out bad (Planet of the... BLAHK!). But I was still excited for this particular project of his. I haven't read the book, or knew much about it, but when I saw the trailer I got my hopes up. Maybe this will be his big comeback! Asa Butterfield is an actor I like, the imagery is appropriately dream- like and the source material seems to fit his style perfectly. It even has the screenwriter from X-Men: First Class! So I went to see the film with a few of my friends in a theater of around 15 people and 25-30 recliner seats. I couldn't wait to see another great Tim Burton movie! And for the first half of the film... I genuinely enjoyed it! Sure, it does take some time for Jacob to reach Peregrine's home, but once he does... I couldn't help but smile like an idiot. The world that Jacob enters is fascinating, the visuals are exceptional, and every one of the peculiar kids are very interesting side- characters. I wanted to learn more about the girl that could lift boulders over her head! There is also this kid that can project his dreams into film... how cool! The first act always left me with questions that I was excited to hear about when the plot kicks in. And then the plot kicks in... That is where the movie starts to run out of steam. I could tell there were a lot of story elements in the book just from watching the movie, because in the second half a lot of it felt crammed in. Whenever I try to follow the story as best as I can, there's always this one subplot that makes precious little sense. It also doesn't help that the villain is weak and his motivations are somewhat vague. The climax is pretty abrupt and Burton sadly delves into a few clichés that aggravate me. A lot of it felt by-the-numbers at that time, and I was sorely disappointed. That's not to say that this was a bad film, because it isn't. The acting (especially from Eva Green) is competent, the whole film is imaginative in its story and visuals, and somewhere buried beneath lies a great film with lots of creative ideas and appealing whimsy. But the plot is messy, the main character is bland, the pacing is at times uneven and, in the end, it's just another average YA adaptation that had loads of potential. VERDICT: + Visuals + Well-cast, especially for Eva Green + Imaginative + Sense of wonder in the first act + Solid directing + Interesting side characters SCORE: 5.5/10

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• An amazing visual experience lacking good plot and storytelling

  angelamarkovic252016-12-12

  Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is a movie adaptation of Ransom Riggs' bestselling novel by the same name.The movie follows Jake's adventure as he unfolds the mystery behind his grandpa's stories and learns his own peculiarity. It was directed by Tim Burton-the master of creating stunning visual films and kind of grotesque yet likable plots and characters.Just the first seconds of this film show that it was directed by Burton;it's beautiful and sort of airy,with a vibe of a dark fairy tale. Even trough the visuals were stunning,everything else,well,was average.The plot,storytelling,characters,ending-everything.What i really liked about Ransom Riggs' novel was the details that make the characters:their past,their adventure in finding themselves and accepting their peculiarities,their relationship and views of the world etc.In the movie adaptation the characters are plain and lifeless,they don't have a backstory of any sort and they are reduced to only their peculiarities.The biggest thing that buged me about the characters is that they are drastically changed and not anything alike those from the book;we're talking about changed ages,looks,names and peculiarities.So,if you really liked the book and it's characters,you will probably be disappointed with these ones. There are huge plot holes and errors in story telling.It feels rushed and underdeveloped,expesily the ending,which was the biggest disappointment for me. The actors did a good job at portraying the characters,all except Asa Butterfield who portrayed the main character,Jake Portman.It felt forced and i didn't feel he did his best in portraying his character. So,in conclusion:if you just want to feast your eyes on something pretty and couldn't care less about anything else,watch this movie.

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• I enjoyed the movie

  si_anu2016-10-12

  I am not very familiar with Tim Burton's work (only watched a handful of his movies), neither have I read the book, so I will review this movie as it is, without comparing it to the usual craftsmanship of Mr. Burton nor the characters or events as depicted in the source material. I found the movie entertaining, and at no point did I wonder "How long more is this going to be?" Any movie that never prompts me to ask this question automatically gets a 6 out of 10. Many reviews mentioned about huge plot holes in the movie, but I never really understood what the plot holes were that make this a terrible movie. I thought the story was quite easy to follow, even with all the time loops, and makes sense in the make-believe world that we are watching. I usually have trouble making sense of time- travel stories, so the ability to simplify complicated concepts and making it easy to understand for me deserves another star for intelligence. Though probably it wasn't easy enough for a seven year-old to comprehend. I also thought the soundtrack was quite good, I actually stayed till the credits finished rolling to enjoy the music. This, along with the camera work, gets another star to make it 8 out of 10. To be honest, if the voting score is in increment of 0.5, I would be more inclined to vote it 7.5 out of 10. I don't expect character development for all the "peculiar children" in a movie like this (that would perhaps be more fitting for a drama series), but the acting can be improved. Eva Green has the best "on-screen presence", but she doesn't appear until 30 minutes into the movie, so a bit of patience is necessary. Also I found the editing a bit too abrupt at some points, but that's about all the complaints I have. I am quite satisfied with the movie, considering the amount of bad reviews I have been exposed to. :)

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• Whatever happened to Tim Burton?!

  bartonj24102016-10-02

  Tim Burton strikes me as a pretty peculiar man so he was the right fit for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, a film based on the novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs. Burton has disappointed me recently and I haven't really enjoyed one of his films since Sleepy Hollow back in 1999. Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) is a boy who doesn't really have anyone close to him, except for his grandfather. When tragedy strikes at home and Jake is left feeling more alone than ever, he goes on a journey to Wales to find out if there was any truth to the fairy tales he was told by his grandfather as a child. Stumbling across Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, that his grandfather visited regularly when fighting in the war, Jake soon meets its inhabitants and Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) herself. Hearing her speak of the danger the the children could be in, Jake makes a connection between that danger and the cause of the tragedy at home. This is very much a family film however, where I think it will lose both adult and child audience members is the fact that it really is quite a boring story told in such a dull way. Tim Burton has made fantasy films before but there is no sense of awe or wonder as there was in something like Edward Scissorhands. The screenplay from Jane Goldman is massively disappointing considering the work she's done on the likes of Kick-Ass and Kingsman in recent years. I enjoyed some of the film but for large parts I was bored thanks to some incredibly drab characters. The film certainly has a visual appeal but even that was ruined by a final act that descended into utter stupidity. Up until then, I thought the effects were really quite good. Then came the moment a crew of skeletons fend off the enemy creatures from the children. All I will say is that the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts looked better. Coming to the performances, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children makes a massive error in having Asa Butterfield in the lead role. He hasn't done much of note in his career so far and I just found him so bland in this film. Samuel L. Jackson's villainous turn is just laughable but the film's biggest crime was not having enough Eva Green, an actress who would have done the film a massive favour. The use of time travel is something that hindered the film for me as well. Events towards the end don't get explained very well at all, leading to utter confusion as the film drew to a close. I'm sure I won't be the only one who thought so. Overall, this is just a totally forgettable film from Tim Burton.

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• Tim Burton's X-Men

  ThomasDrufke2016-10-02

  Tim Burton has tackled almost all of the genre's, and done most of them very well. So who doesn't want to see him go back to his adventure-fantasy comfort zone with Miss Peregrine? It's billed as Tim Burton's X-Men, and I like that comparison a lot. It definitely has certain similarities to a mutant story, but with Burton's flare for obscurity and peculiarity. Let me start off by saying that I really liked the premise and set up. Not only are the characters similar to X-Men, but the story slightly resembled Days of Future Past. I love the time travel elements and links to World War II. But the rest of the film just didn't live up to the promise of the trailers. As delightful as some of Burton's films can be, I find the unevenness to be one of his biggest detractors of his otherwise intriguing ideas. For some reason, the second half of his films don't have the same cohesiveness that the opening's do. With Miss Peregrine, we are set up with a much more grounded take to a heightened story than I thought. You certainly get to see the impressive and outright strange abilities of the young children, but it isn't taken into any extraordinary levels, until later. The second half is flooded with ridiculous and over-the-top 'peculiarities'. That's would be all fine and dandy if the first half didn't set up an already intriguing story without all of the added strangeness. As for the performances, Eva Green is the only one that really stood out here. She seems like a perfect fit into a Burton-esque drama. Her line delivery and presence just speaks Burton. She's also the only character that kept my attention from beginning till end. Sadly, she's not really in it all that much, even with the title having her name. We mostly focus on Asa Butterfield's 'Jake' and Ella Burnell's 'Emma'. Of course, there is some romantic tension, but it never leaves the constructs of a typical teen angst drama. I just didn't buy into it. There's a ton of cool things about this movie, but by the time I left the theater the whole idea just felt tiresome. But with all this said, I would still be open to another entry in the series, just include Eva Green a little more and don't fall into clichés, Burton. You're better than that. +Premise +Eva Green is perfect -First and second half are completely different films -Romantic chemistry was hard to buy into 5.9/10

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