MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN (7.5 out of 10) Directed by Tim Burton; Screenplay by Jane Goldman , based upon the novel written by Ransom Riggs; Starring Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Allison Janney, Chris O’Dowd, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Finlay MacMillan, Lauren McCrostie, Hayden Keeler-Stone, Georgia Pemberton, Milo Parker, Raffiella Chapman, Pixie Davies; Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy action/violence and peril; Running time 127 minutes; In wide release September 30, 2016.
Tim Burton is back. After a decade of middling fare, remaking Carroll and Dahl and producing films that, while good, don’t seem very Burton-y (Big Eyes, for example), we get Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Burton has always been able to weave a perfect dark fairy tale, and that’s exactly what we get.
Jake (Butterfield) is an ordinary kid living in Florida until one day an incident with his grandfather leads him to believe all the stories he heard as a child were true– especially those about monsters and a school for “peculiar” children off the coast of Wales. So traumatized, his family decides the best way to get over his fears will be to confront this nonsense head on with a trip to the supposed location, where Jake does indeed find himself drawn into the world of the peculiar and the threats that hunt them.
The school is protected by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), a time-travelling “avocet” who keeps the children protected in a time loop so their enemies can’t find them. And she is the star of this movie, even among a hugely talented supporting cast. Part Mary Poppins, Willy Wonka, and Albus Dumbledore, she’s pure magic every second she’s on screen.
All of Burton’s experience as a builder of worlds at the intersection of fantastic and creepy is on display here and put to great use. He’s also able to put together several pivotal action sequences that are fun and dazzling. Unfortunately, he seems to run out of steam about 80% through the movie, and the final climactic battle is anything but a climax, instead feeling forced and weak, which is the only serious flaw in this otherwise excellent film. Still, a bad final act is pretty fatal, even when it redeems itself by setting itself up for the inevitable sequel.
Another troubling aspect is this film’s strange take on diversity. While Samuel L. Jackson plays the villain, there are no other persons of color in the film and Burton seems to have stepped in it when talking about it with the press. Draw your own conclusions, but it is disappointing when a film made for young adults looks nothing like the demographics of the audience it’s made for. While counter-critics will point out that the film is set in Wales with a group of peculiar children from 1940s Britain, the film makes no qualms about casting the heavily accented Chris O’Dowd as the American father of our main character and set the still very British Terrence Stamp as his father.
If an accent and national origin don’t matter to a story, neither should race. In a week when we also have the phenomenal Queen of Katwe opening as well as Luke Cage dropping on Netflix, (and the two biggest moneymaking films of the last year featuring incredibly diverse casts in terms of both race and gender) it’s time for directors like Burton to remember that diversity isn’t some fad, niche thing or just politically correct pablum payable in tokenism and lip service. As simple as it was to have Sam Jackson play Barron, it would have been as simple to cast others in this film. If you want to see incredibly talented young black actors taking on incredibly challenging material, you can look to Queen of Katwe for inspiration.
But those problems aside, for those looking for a bit of magic, a bit of peculiarity, and another fantastic world built only the way Tim Burton and a few others can, you will find a home here. It’s the best thing Burton has done in a decade– and he should challenge himself to do even better.
7.5 out of 10