Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN (12)

D: Tim Burton

20th Century Fox/TSG (Peter Chernin & Jenno Topping)

US 2016

127 mins

Fantasy

W: Jane Goldman [based on the novel by Ransom Riggs]

DP: Bruno Delbonnel

Ed: Chris Lebenzon

Mus: Mike Higham & Matthew Margeson

PD: Gavin Bocquet

Cos: Colleen Atwood

Eva Green (Miss Peregrine), Asa Butterfield (Jake Portman), Ella Purnell (Emma Bloom), Finlay MacMillan (Enoch O'Connor), Lauren McCrostie (Olive Elephanta), Chris O'Dowd (Frank Portman), Terence Stamp (Abraham Portman), Judi Dench (Esmeralda Avocet), Samuel L. Jackson (Mr. Barron)

Fantasy maestro Tim Burton tackles Ransom Riggs occult novel for this magical movie, starring Asa Butterfield as troubled teenager Jake Portman, who travels to a small Welsh town so he can visit an orphanage where his late grandfather stayed as a boy.

He initially discovers that the orphanage is a ruin, bombed during WWII, but is whisked away to a day in September 1943, when the orphanage still stands, run by headmistress Miss Peregrine who uses her magic to replay the day on an endless loop. 

The children within the orphanage all have their own special gifts and are referred to as peculiars. Jake discovers that they himself has a unique gift; as monsters are visible only to him and aim to destroy Miss Peregrine's home.

Despite being visually creative and having some good special effects, costumes and production design, the narrative of this movie doesn't flow as neatly as you'd like it to, and probably runs the risk of boring young children who wouldn't understand the time-loop portion of the plot. 

Worth a watch for fans of fantasy films or Tim Burton, but it's not quite amongst his best works.

6/10