Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Review

What is considered normal in this crazy world of imagination?

Tim Burton takes us into another one of his strange adaptations, "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children," released recently on September 30, 2016.

Based on the book of the same title by Ransom Riggs, the movie’s story revolves around a boy by the name of Jacob Portman (Asa Butterfield), who had recently lost his grandfather in a mysterious incident. Troubled by his last words, Jacob travels to Wales with his father in an attempt to find the children’s home that his grandfather had spoken so fondly of in the past in an attempt to ease his pain. However, when he finds that the children of the home had been the same age since World War II thanks to a loop in time, things become dangerous.

Dripping with excellent scenery, fascinating ideas and mystifying effects, this movie looks to be one of the best in 2016. So why did it only receive a 64% on Rotten Tomatoes?

Truth is, it isn’t all that inspired.

It appears that Burton was far more focused on the ideas and visuals than he was on characters and story. There was a lot of confusion for some scenes on how things worked or what the reasons were for things doing things.

And as far as trying to be scary, it just turned out more creepy if anything. The monsters that were used looked a lot like a combination of Slenderman and Venom from "Spiderman." Granted, they were very disturbing first sight, but the movie misuses their terrifying features by showing them too much. They were basically just dumb henchman as opposed to horrifying monsters.

The characters were disappointingly boring, and I say this because each child has their own special ability, such as flying, reanimating a stationary figure, burning things to the ground at the touch of a hand, and growing plants to extreme sizes in a matter of minutes. These ideas sound excellent, however what use are extraordinary powers if the characters are as dull as dirt? Not only are they suffocatingly stale, but their “personality types” are also predictable. You have the confused boy who seems to forget his lines every now and then, you have the girl who can’t think of anything except her “tragic love life,” you have another boy who’s jealous of boy number 1, so he takes every chance to be a jerk, then you have another girl who can’t think of anything else except being a doormat to boy number 2. Then the rest of the characters are younger than them, and they have next to no lines or development. Which is particularly disappointing, because most of them have so much potential to be explored. Especially the one who stays invisible for all eternity.

The only legit characters who were well written would be Miss Peregrine herself (played by Eva Green), and Barron (Samuel L. Jackson), the main antagonist of the film.

Peregrine’s special ability is to turn into a peregrine falcon, and Green incorporates falcon traits into the character she plays. Such as quick reflexes, intense glaring, protective over her loved ones and an overall dignified leader. Green does a fantastic job in this role, and pretty much kept the whole movie worthwhile.

At the same time, Jackson’s character, Barron, was unlike any other villains audience’s had seen so many times. The movie made it look like Barron was a soulless monster whose compassion was nonexistent. Though when we actually meet him, Jackson plays him as if he felt life were just one big problem. Barron’s character is impatient, yet calm. Serious, yet humorous. He’s the type of character Deadpool would probably respect.

The movie runs for about 2 hours and 7 minutes, though you don’t feel like it’s been that long. As far as being worth the trouble for watching, it’s gotten mixed reviews from many people for different things, so it’s hard to tell if one would be interested in it or not. I’d recommend if you’re a Burton fan, or enjoy watching fantasy/adventure types of movies. Though if you’re watching it to be scared, you’ll probably be disappointed. Though if you’d like to see a movie this weekend, and are in the mood, then I would recommend it for audiences who can handle the disturbing imagery. Though it is a complete hit or miss.

Pros:

• The scenery choices were well-made
• The acting choices for appearance were done correctly
• Ideas were well-utilized
• Music was decent
• Special effects were nice (especially the sunken ship scene)
• Creepy moments were actually creepy
• Story was alright
• Eva Green and Samuel L. Jackson were excellent

Cons:

• Most characters weren’t interesting
• Monsters aren’t well-designed
• There are quite a lot of confusing moments that get no explanation
• Possibly interesting characters were barely used
• The antagonist's demise seemed forced and out of nowhere
• Ending doesn’t explain how Jacob’s parents weren’t freaking out
• Forced romantic interests
• Acting wasn’t top-notch

Overall, despite all the disappointing parts, "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children" was a fun film to watch on a Saturday night. Dark, different, one automatically would know, Burton’s been here.

“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”

-Ransom Riggs