FilmSnobReviews

Title: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Ella Purnell
Runtime: 2 hr 7 mins

What It Is: As a little boy, Jack’s (Butterfield) grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp) used to tell him stories of his time at the titular children’s home. From the curious peculiarity of the headmistress, in which she can turn into a falcon to having an invisible boy or a girl lighter than air. As a sinister villain slowly ascends into the modern world he’ll also take a look at the past to find exactly what he’s looking for.

What We Think: This is a movie that definitively stumbles out of the block. Eventually, once we get the setup and are just presented the story we’re taken for a ride through some sort of steampunk baroque nightmare. Filled to the brim with colorful and macabre characters this is most certainly a Burton film. One of my biggest complaints is the acting is stilted and pretty bad. Asa Butterfield is really not believable and it is almost as if Eva Green is taking this more seriously than so the younger cast members. Also, Samuel L. Jackson is in this as an overzealous villain. Sound familiar to you?

Our Grade: C+, Visually it is stunning, outside of the CGI that is. That looks pretty terrible. Almost as if it were unfinished. Burton proves he can still direct and that even though a lot of his recent films are all show and no go here he gets it going. Not since Burton’s musical feature “Sweeney Todd” has the macabre been so entertaining. I’d recommend you check this film out if you want to see something totally quirky. At the very least check this out if you’re a Burton fan desperate for something good from him.