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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
Well, color me surprised because I thought this would be a Tim Burton movie where everything was oddball and the mood would be kooky from beginning to end. Not that I don't like that about his movies. It's what sets him apart from other directors and that tends to be polarizing for some people. But I enjoy most of his stuff. This one falls in the category of "oddball characters with heart" or "weirdness with feeling" that resemble his films like Edward Scissorhands or Big Fish. It's not exactly like those but it just has the "feel" of those in my opinion.
Jake (Asa Butterfield) is concerned that his grandfather (Terence Stamp) is losing his mind with ravings about someone being after him. This is the same grandfather that regaled Jake as a young lad with bedtime stories about a "special school for different children" and monsters who, if they found the same kids, would eat their eyeballs. Of course, all this turns out to be true. This is all established fairly early in the movie so it's not really a spoiler. Jake ends up going to Wales with his dad (Chris O'Dowd) at the behest of his psychologist and finds the special home his grandfather told him he visited during WWII. He's greeted by the headmistress, the enigmatic Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), who welcomes him and introduces him to all the "Peculiars," the children with special powers who are forced to remain in hiding at a Gothic mansion. All are unique but Jake is smitten with Emma (Ella Purnell), who is very light on her feet...in fact, she floats and has to wear special weighted boots so she doesn't drift away. Meanwhile, there's of course a "big bad" played by Samuel L. Jackson, who wants to kill all the Peculiars and
Yes, it's compared to the X-Men, which is unfair because any story with similarities might be compared to the other, but this one is only surface-level. Tim Burton movies are definitely not like Marvel movies. The special effects are pretty super, with the requisite Burton creatures that comes after the kids, and these monsters look somewhat like Jack Skellington, his "hero" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which he produced and created the characters for but didn't direct. Still, they are properly "Burtonesque" for fans. In the end, the movie is one with lots of fun but also a big heart that leaves you feeling great.
Well, color me surprised because I thought this would be a Tim Burton movie where everything was oddball and the mood would be kooky from beginning to end. Not that I don't like that about his movies. It's what sets him apart from other directors and that tends to be polarizing for some people. But I enjoy most of his stuff. This one falls in the category of "oddball characters with heart" or "weirdness with feeling" that resemble his films like Edward Scissorhands or Big Fish. It's not exactly like those but it just has the "feel" of those in my opinion.
Jake (Asa Butterfield) is concerned that his grandfather (Terence Stamp) is losing his mind with ravings about someone being after him. This is the same grandfather that regaled Jake as a young lad with bedtime stories about a "special school for different children" and monsters who, if they found the same kids, would eat their eyeballs. Of course, all this turns out to be true. This is all established fairly early in the movie so it's not really a spoiler. Jake ends up going to Wales with his dad (Chris O'Dowd) at the behest of his psychologist and finds the special home his grandfather told him he visited during WWII. He's greeted by the headmistress, the enigmatic Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), who welcomes him and introduces him to all the "Peculiars," the children with special powers who are forced to remain in hiding at a Gothic mansion. All are unique but Jake is smitten with Emma (Ella Purnell), who is very light on her feet...in fact, she floats and has to wear special weighted boots so she doesn't drift away. Meanwhile, there's of course a "big bad" played by Samuel L. Jackson, who wants to kill all the Peculiars and
WARNING: spoilers below
of course, consume their eyeballs, which he believes when enough are ingested, he'll gain immortality. He has a cabal of people like him who have the same goals and they are the "Hollows," who sport white eyeballs, due to a failed experiment long ago.
Yes, it's compared to the X-Men, which is unfair because any story with similarities might be compared to the other, but this one is only surface-level. Tim Burton movies are definitely not like Marvel movies. The special effects are pretty super, with the requisite Burton creatures that comes after the kids, and these monsters look somewhat like Jack Skellington, his "hero" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, which he produced and created the characters for but didn't direct. Still, they are properly "Burtonesque" for fans. In the end, the movie is one with lots of fun but also a big heart that leaves you feeling great.