Review of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) by Mariah G — 01 Nov 2016

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: a thrill!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children follows the young boy Jake (Asa Butterfield), on his journey of discovering a new world and his unknown talents. After his grandfather is mysteriously murdered by an unknown creature, Jake sets out to find the hidden, magical place, full of children just like his grandfather, from the stories he was told as a child. Here Jake discovers new people, each with different peculiarities, and that he wasn't that different from his grandfather after all. Soon after, he learns these new friends are under attack and need his help to keep the hallowgasts, which feast on peculiar children, from taking over the peculiar world. Based off the novel of the same name, Miss Peregrine's is a thrilling ride full of plot twists that keep you on the edge of your seat and the discovery of one boy's true self in a new world. A great movie comparable to Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.

Story Line and Quality 3/4.

Keeping the watchers entertained for the duration of a movie is the main goal in creating one. Miss Peregrine's did just that. Though the introduction seemed a tad lengthy, it seemed necessary to explain such a complex plot. The overall quality of Miss Peregrine's met my satisfaction as a film, but not quite as an interpretation of a book. Throughout most of the movie, I was kept on the edge of my seat with many turning points that left me waiting anxiously for what would happen next.

Explanation of Plot 3/4.

With a new kind of world and people, comes an explanation of them. These special peculiarities, creatures, and histories are so complex to non-peculiars (regular humans), that explaining the plot was a hard job. Though I already knew the rules of the peculiar world, if I had not read the book I would have had a great understanding of it from just the film, besides a few points. Miss Peregrine's completely got the point across with just enough information, charm, and mystery.

Stunts and Special Effects 4/4.

In a movie with people who are invisible, can bring inanimate objects to life and control them, start fire with their hands, house bees inside their body, and murderous creatures of different forms, many special effects are needed. The perfect person for this job is Tim Burton. Miss Peregrine's features the unique style of Burton which can be compared to some of his other works such as The Corpse Bride and Edward Scissor Hands. Burton's interpretation of each peculiarity was spot on and really made the movie that much better. This film is also action packed and full of stunts that include many fighting scenes that were brought to life and look very realistic.

(a hollowgasts, one of the many monsters of the peculiar world).

Actor Performance and Chemistry 3/4.

On screen performance and chemistry with the other actors and actresses is a very important part to the movie experience. One character that really stands out is Miss Peregrine herself (Eva Green). Green was able to bring Miss Peregrine to life showing just how strong she is and how big of a heart she has, especially for the children. Miss Peregrine acts as not only a friend, but a mother to the children. The chemistry she showed with (Eva Green; MissPeregrine) each one was phenomenal. She acted as if she really was their mother. One relationship that sparked the most was between Miss Peregrine and Emma (Ella Purnell). They seemed to have a special relationship, one that had understanding of each other on a deeper level than the other, younger children. Another great relationship that stood out was between all the children. They seemed to all act like the normal siblings, teasing and playing together, but then have the special understanding that each one of them is different and that that is okay. ***SPOLIER ALERT*** The romantic relationship in the film let me down. Jake and Emma just did not seem to have that click that I expected. Yes, young love is going to be awkward, but it felt like until the end of the movie there wasn't much between Butterfield and Purnell as was to be expected. ***END OF SPOILER***.

Interpretation of the Book 2/4.

Everybody knows that movies based off of books are rarely ever exactly the same and often times upset the readers with the differences. I do agree that movies are their own thing and can change things, but I believe they should stay to the main plot and characters. That's why I gave this category the lowest score. One of the biggest differences between the book and movie is that in the book one of the main characters, Emma, has the ability to start fire with her hands, and Olive can defy gravity and float without her steel boots to hold her down. In the movie, Burton decided to switch these two's abilities, and I really couldn't get over that fact. It seemed like too important of a detail to change. Other smaller changes include the switching of one of the character's genders, the hollowgasts having the ability to enter the peculiar's loops in the movie, and not including a minor character. Though these changes did upset me a little as a big fan of the books, not all the changes I felt negatively impacted the movie. Some things that Burton added from his own imagination, I felt added to the story and enhanced the experience. One of these is the scene in which Enoch (Finlay MacMillan) brings skeletons from a sunken ship to life and commands them to help the group fight the hollowgasts. This scene shined a little bit more light on Enoch's peculiarity, showing that it wasn't as grim as it seemed to be.

(Left: Olive in the book Right: Olive, Lauren.

McCrostie, in the movie).

The Good.

O Timeline moved along quickly, keeping the viewer entertained.

O Burton's imagination created great special effects for each peculiarity.

O Great onscreen chemistry between most characters.

O Added scenes contributed to the experience, also thanks to Burton.

The Bad.

O The introduction seemed a tad bit lengthy.

O There was one major change between the characters in the book and the movie that could have been left alone.

O A couple minor characters were left out of the movie.

O The budding romantic relationship did not live up to what was expected until the very end of the movie.

To find a final score, I averaged out all the scores from each criteria.

Final Score: 3/4.