Big screen spectacle

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

STARRING: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Terence Stamp, Samuel L Jackson

DIRECTOR: Tim Burton

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Rating: PG-15

127 mins

One of the quirkiest filmmakers of our time has returned, and with it an adaption of hugely-popular bestselling novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

Tim Burton’s rather obscure interests have delighted us in the past, with classics such as Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas (although no one mention his remake of Planet of the Apes please), and he takes on yet another dark fantasy with this tale of a mysterious school populated by gifted, yet odd, children.

Based on Ransom Riggs’ 2011 novel, the film tells the story of 16 year-old Jake Portman (Butterfield), who has a very close bond with his grandfather Abe (Stamp). Abe raises him on stories of being brought up in a ‘home for peculiar children’ when he was a boy.

He constantly shows young Jake photos of fellow inhabitants of the home, children with extraordinary abilities or peculiarities like superhuman strength, invisibility, the ability to manipulate air and to fire bees out of their mouth.

Of course, Jake’s parents think that both Abe and Jake are delusional, and when Abe dies mysteriously (and with his eyes missing), Jake is put into therapy to ‘get over’ the idea of the home. However, when he receives a birthday present that his grandfather had left for him before he died - a postcard from Wales signed by Miss Alma Peregrine, the headmistress in charge of the children’s home - Jake convinces his father to take him to the island of Cairnholm just off the Welsh coast so that he can see the children’s home for himself and, as his therapist has suggested, find some closure.

Once there, he finds the children’s home, only to discover that it had been bombed out during World War II.

At first he’s disappointed, but then other children seem to emerge from the rubble, and they transport him into their ‘time loop’, a pocket of time where the home still stands and the children have lived, ageless and forever. There, they constantly relive September 3, 1943, to protect themselves from a rogue faction of peculiars led by Mr Barron (Jackson).

The best phrase to describe this film is ‘a mixed bag’. Visually, the cinematography is stunning and each frame pops with colour and little flourishes that are classic Burton. Best of these is a small stop-motion animation sequence, which while feeling a little out of place, is a nice nostalgic nod to the classic days of film making.

Speaking of nostalgic nods, it was cool to see a nice change with the film’s final act being staged at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and, in particular, the Blackpool Tower, a structure which can be seen across the sea from my own hometown’s beach on a clear day!

Unfortunately, with a novel rich in backstory and characters having to be condensed into a two-hour feature, there is the inevitable by-product of clunky world-building. Character development and acting performances take a back seat for the most part, which is a shame considering the huge cast and how many star names populate the credits.

Judy Dench is in it? Blink and you’ll miss her, along with several others. It’s a shame we aren’t given enough time to get to know them or care about their fate. Still, there are the inevitable sequels for that sort of stuff …

Jackson gives one of his effervescent, exaggerated performances that only he can, but we don’t learn much about his motivations or goals.

The best relationship is typically the only one fully fleshed-out, between Jake and Abe. Grandparent/grandchildren relationships are always the best and full of stories, and theirs is one tinged with tragedy and melancholy.

It’s particularly touching here due to the juxtaposition of Jake’s relationship with his father (Chris O’Dowd), who always seems to choose grabbing a cold beverage and watching sport to talking to his son.

Ultimately, I wanted to love this film, as I’m a fan of stories featuring misfit kids finding their power.

This was basically a gothic Harry Potter meets X-Men opportunity, but it feels a bit rushed. Had the filmmakers streamlined the story a bit, perhaps dividing the novel into two parts (it’s rare you’ll find me advocating that trend!), it might have worked. But as it stands now, Miss Peregrine relies too much on its spectacle and set pieces.

Showing in: Cineco, Seef II, Saar, Wadi Al Sail, Dana Cineplex, Mukta

Rating: 3/5