ENJOY A PECULIAR TRIP TO THE CINEMA
GUY DAVIS’ MOVIE REVIEWS
TIM Burton’s particular brand of quirkiness has been wearing thin for a few years now, so it’s a pleasure to be surprised by his new offbeat fantasy Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an occasionally grim but often joyously odd fairy tale.
It’s not quite a return to the glory days of Burton’s Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands, mind you — I found the story a little confusing in parts, and the filmmaker’s familiar themes and tics have become far too familiar by this stage of his career.
But there is also much to enjoy in this weird tale based on the popular young-adult fantasy novel by Ransom Riggs.
It’s a tried-and-true story of a misfit finding his peers and his purpose, told with genuine empathy and tenderness (not to mention a bit of grossness that some squeamish viewers may find confronting but Burton devotees will probably adore).
Our hero is Jake (Asa Butterfield), a Florida teenager who has grown up hearing stories rom his beloved grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp) of a strange collection of children called “Peculiars” and the monsters that hunt them.
When Abe dies under very mysterious circumstances, his last words lead Jake to a remote Welsh island, the location of a ruined mansion that featured in many of his grandfather’s stories.
But while the mansion appears to be a ruin to almost everyone, Jake soon discovers he can enter a time loop, a single day in 1943 that regularly repeats itself, where the mansion is not only still standing but houses the Peculiars Abe had told him about.
Under the care of the friendly but formidable Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), the children are kept safe from the supernatural villains, led by Barron (Samuel L. Jackson, funny and frightening in equal measure), who wish them harm in the worst possible way.
Unfortunately for Jake, Barron has also found the secret time loop. But Jake learns that he has a peculiar gift all his own that may save the day.
While Burton is travelling through old territory in many ways with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, there are many moments when he feels like he’s stretching himself in interesting ways.
It’s great when he locates heartfelt emotion in scenes between characters who honestly care for one another or brings an oddball, off-kilter energy to a fight between invisible beasties and reanimated skeletons (as I said, this is definitely a Tim Burton movie).