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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children More at IMDbPro »

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78 out of 107 people found the following review useful:

Could've been a great film. Despite some intriguing story elements and a promising first act, it sadly ends up being OK.

Author: dawson-12681
2 October 2016

Just to clarify one thing: I don't hate Tim Burton at all. In fact, I kinda love his work. He has a very unique and imaginative vision, seems to have a tasteful choice for actors (besides Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter), and can really poor his heart and soul in some of his films like "Edward Scissorhands", "Corpse Bride", and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". But, just like any director, he has his missteps also. Some of his recent work is very lackluster and, at times, flat-out bad (Planet of the... BLAHK!).

But I was still excited for this particular project of his. I haven't read the book, or knew much about it, but when I saw the trailer I got my hopes up. Maybe this will be his big comeback! Asa Butterfield is an actor I like, the imagery is appropriately dream- like and the source material seems to fit his style perfectly. It even has the screenwriter from X-Men: First Class!

So I went to see the film with a few of my friends in a theater of around 15 people and 25-30 recliner seats. I couldn't wait to see another great Tim Burton movie!

And for the first half of the film... I genuinely enjoyed it! Sure, it does take some time for Jacob to reach Peregrine's home, but once he does... I couldn't help but smile like an idiot. The world that Jacob enters is very fascinating, the visuals are exceptional, and every one of the peculiar kids in the house are very interesting side- characters. I wanted to learn more about the girl that could lift boulders over her head! There is also this kid that can project his dreams into film... how cool! This first act always left me with questions that I was excited to hear about when the plot kicks in.

And then the plot kicks in...

That is where the movie starts to run out of steam.

I could tell that there was a lot of story elements in the book just from watching the movie, because in the 2nd half a lot of it felt crammed in. When I try to follow the story as best as I can, there's always this one element that makes precious little sense. It also doesn't help that the villain is weak and his motivations are somewhat vague.

The climax is pretty abrupt and Burton sadly delves into a few clichés that aggravate me. A lot of it felt by-the-numbers at that time, and I was sorely disappointed.

That's not to say that this was a bad film, because it isn't. The acting (especially from Eva Green) is competent, the whole film is incredibly imaginative in both story and visuals, and somewhere buried beneath lies a great film with very intriguing story elements and appealing whimsy. But the plot is messy, the main character is bland, the pacing is at times uneven and, in the end, it's just another average YA adaptation that had loads of potential.

VERDICT:

+ Visuals + Well-cast, especially for Eva Green + Imaginative + Sense of wonder in the first act + Solid directing + Interesting side characters + Has potential

- Villain - The hero is underdeveloped - Plot is messy - Pacing is uneven - Unconvincing love chemistry

SCORE: 5.5/10

65 out of 104 people found the following review useful:

Whatever happened to Tim Burton?!

Author: bartonj2410
2 October 2016

Tim Burton strikes me as a pretty peculiar man so he was the right fit for Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, a film based on the novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs. Burton has disappointed me recently and I haven't really enjoyed one of his films since Sleepy Hollow back in 1999.

Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) is a boy who doesn't really have anyone close to him, except for his grandfather. When tragedy strikes at home and Jake is left feeling more alone than ever, he goes on a journey to Wales to find out if there was any truth to the fairy tales he was told by his grandfather as a child.

Stumbling across Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, that his grandfather visited regularly when fighting in the war, Jake soon meets its inhabitants and Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) herself. Hearing her speak of the danger the the children could be in, Jake makes a connection between that danger and the cause of the tragedy at home.

This is very much a family film however, where I think it will lose both adult and child audience members is the fact that it really is quite a boring story told in such a dull way. Tim Burton has made fantasy films before but there is no sense of awe or wonder as there was in something like Edward Scissorhands.

The screenplay from Jane Goldman is massively disappointing considering the work she's done on the likes of Kick-Ass and Kingsman in recent years. I enjoyed some of the film but for large parts I was bored thanks to some incredibly drab characters.

The film certainly has a visual appeal but even that was ruined by a final act that descended into utter stupidity. Up until then, I thought the effects were really quite good. Then came the moment a crew of skeletons fend off the enemy creatures from the children. All I will say is that the skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts looked better.

Coming to the performances, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children makes a massive error in having Asa Butterfield in the lead role. He hasn't done much of note in his career so far and I just found him so bland in this film. Samuel L. Jackson's villainous turn is just laughable but the film's biggest crime was not having enough Eva Green, an actress who would have done the film a massive favour.

The use of time travel is something that hindered the film for me as well. Events towards the end don't get explained very well at all, leading to utter confusion as the film drew to a close. I'm sure I won't be the only one who thought so. Overall, this is just a totally forgettable film from Tim Burton.

75 out of 124 people found the following review useful:

Another magical masterpiece from Tim Burton

Author: www.ramascreen.com from United States
25 September 2016

#MissPeregrinesHomeForPeculiarChildren is a Tim Burton movie through and through. There are elements of "Frankenweenie" in it, there's a little bit of "Big Fish" too and "Edward Scissorhands" as well, full of goth and oddities, if this film had been directed by somebody else, it would've done the story disservice because the world and the characters that author Ransom Riggs created in his novel are pretty much in Tim Burton's neck of the woods. Some might even describe this as the X-Men movie that Tim Burton never made.

Scripted by Jane Goldman ("Kick-Ass," "X-Men: First Class") I don't want to give too much away here but let me briefly tell you the plot which focuses on a young kid named Jake (Asa Butterfield). One day, an incident befalls his grandfather, which then leads Jake to visit Wales, the location of the orphanage from his grandfather stories. In his search, he encounters the peculiar children that his grandfather had talked so much about and they lead him to Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) who explains to Jake that she is a ymbrynes, which is a peculiar that can create time loops which then keeps their place safe but it also means that they're stuck in a certain day of a certain year. All of this must be done due to WWII and the monsters, hollowgasts that hunt down peculiar children for their eyes. The leader of those hollowgasts is Barron (Samuel L. Jackson) who'll stop at nothing in his quest for immortality.

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN is an adventure film that's wildly mesmerizing, and because the kids have powers or special abilities, it's also full of visual wonder, the movie magic is in high gear for most of the time. It takes someone with an active imagination like Tim Burton to bring an already imaginative story come to life on the big screen.

Part of what makes Ransom Rigg's novel special and popular is that it contains vernacular photographs as a guide to put together the narrative. Burton incorporates some of that into the film but they're there mainly at the beginning, just to set up the context. The design for the hollowgasts and what they eat to sustain themselves or to survive, some might see it as too scary for younger viewers, but I see it more as gnarly. But that's the thing though with many of Tim Burton's family adventure movies, they're never meant to walk on egg shells. They are fairy tales that find beauty in the dark and they bring out courage in characters that society marginalizes, and MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN is no different.

The kids featured in this film are so adorable, once you get past or get used to their peculiarities, and some can be shocking, you'll find them to be absolutely adorable. And once they start teaming up and working together, it's so easy to cheer or root for them. Those who know me well know that I'm a huge Eva Green's fan, her involvement is definitely this film's big attraction to me, but I think she's just absolutely perfect in this role, Green has that natural instinct when it comes to playing mysterious powerful character, she previously showed it in "Penny Dreadful" series and now she unleashes that same vibe for this film. I guess you could say that MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN is kind of like Mary Poppins meets X-Men meets Tim Burton, and it's a winning combination.

-- Rama's Screen --

46 out of 69 people found the following review useful:

Bizarre, Wild and Fantastic

Author: Harun Karali from Turkey
25 September 2016

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The story is about Jake who stumbles upon an orphanage where there are beings with extraordinary gifts. He meets Miss Peregrine, who invites him to be a part of the family. Burton delivers a breathtaking movie, with gorgeous visuals. As he brings a fairy tale to the silver screen. At the end, I found myself unable to stand, As "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" tuggs on all the right strings and plays a nearly perfect symphony. What stands out in this particular orchestra is the soundtrack, As it breaths life into the story.

As for the acting, Eva Green is perfectly cast as she plays an estranged and peculiar mother figure. This is a Burton classic, if you aren't a fan of his style, it's best to steer clear. The story is based on the novel Ransom Riggs published in 2011. With Jane Goldman's polishing touch, Burton crafts a mesmerizing adventure.

50 out of 81 people found the following review useful:

Very different from the books and just a major disappointment

Author: whitelori
2 October 2016

My daughter and I had read the books. Fans will be disappointed because the film deviates from the original story so much, it is surprising this is called an adaptation. The peculiar children as an example were not all portrayed as written and some were even missing. My daughter kept asking why this child or that child were not there? Miss Peregrine is also not portrayed as she was in the book. I could go on and on.

Acting fell very flat and characters were void of emotion except for one scene where Miss Peregrine shows sadness. Jake in the book is humorous and sarcastic but also had some serious feelings to contend with about tough choices. Absolutely none of this was translated to film.

The ending was confusing, entire story rushed, and anti-climatic.

Also, for 3D lovers, there is almost no 3D effects. There are some at the very beginning which were great, but then the rest was like watching a regular 2D film!

Save your money for the DVD or Netflix!

41 out of 64 people found the following review useful:

Tim Burton's X-Men

Author: Thomas Drufke
2 October 2016

Tim Burton has tackled almost all of the genre's, and done most of them very well. So who doesn't want to see him go back to his adventure-fantasy comfort zone with Miss Peregrine?

It's billed as Tim Burton's X-Men, and I like that comparison a lot. It definitely has certain similarities to a mutant story, but with Burton's flare for obscurity and peculiarity. Let me start off by saying that I really liked the premise and set up. Not only are the characters similar to X-Men, but the story slightly resembled Days of Future Past. I love the time travel elements and links to World War II. But the rest of the film just didn't live up to the promise of the trailers.

As delightful as some of Burton's films can be, I find the unevenness to be one of his biggest detractors of his otherwise intriguing ideas. For some reason, the second half of his films don't have the same cohesiveness that the opening's do. With Miss Peregrine, we are set up with a much more grounded take to a heightened story than I thought. You certainly get to see the impressive and outright strange abilities of the young children, but it isn't taken into any extraordinary levels, until later. The second half is flooded with ridiculous and over-the-top 'peculiarities'. That's would be all fine and dandy if the first half didn't set up an already intriguing story without all of the added strangeness.

As for the performances, Eva Green is the only one that really stood out here. She seems like a perfect fit into a Burton-esque drama. Her line delivery and presence just speaks Burton. She's also the only character that kept my attention from beginning till end. Sadly, she's not really in it all that much, even with the title having her name. We mostly focus on Asa Butterfield's 'Jake' and Ella Burnell's 'Emma'. Of course, there is some romantic tension, but it never leaves the constructs of a typical teen angst drama. I just didn't buy into it.

There's a ton of cool things about this movie, but by the time I left the theater the whole idea just felt tiresome. But with all this said, I would still be open to another entry in the series, just include Eva Green a little more and don't fall into clichés, Burton. You're better than that.

+Premise

+Eva Green is perfect

-First and second half are completely different films

-Romantic chemistry was hard to buy into

5.9/10

80 out of 144 people found the following review useful:

Tim Burton classic

Author: Teodora Dumitrescu from Romania
28 September 2016

Tim Burton does it again - he manages to create with passion and imagination a whole new world, for those of us who need new worlds. Thus if you love fantasy and dreams made serious and scary go see it in 3d because it's great. If you are more of an adult than the child within and you like films with linear plot and logic and exhaustive explanations you probably won't become a fan and that's OK too. Just don't rate it low just because it's not your type, a movie should be rated for what it was meant to be and for what the team behind it tried to accomplish. Watch the trailer, if you like it you'll probably love the film. It's worth mentioning that it is quite dark and scary so it's not for every child.

16 out of 22 people found the following review useful:

Delightful Original Adventure

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
15 November 2016

Jake (Asa Butterfield) is an outcast teenager that adores his grandfather Abraham 'Abe' Portman (Terence Stamp) that used to tell stories of the orphanage in Wales where he was raised to him. When Abe is murdered in his house in Florida and has his eyes removes, Jake sees a monster and his parents take him to a psychologist. Jake asks to go to Wales to visit the orphanage and his psychologist agrees. His father Franklin Portman (Chris O'Dowd) travels with him to Wales and Jake discovers that the orphanage was bombed in 1943 by the Germans. When he decides to visit the ruins of the orphanage again, Abe finds a girl and soon he learns that the orphanage, the headmaster Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) and the children still exist trapped in a time loop. But they are in danger since monsters are hunting them down. And Jake has the gift of seeing monsters. What will Jake do?

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is a delightful original adventure directed by Tim Burton. The fantasy is a sort of X-Men and is highly entertaining with lovely characters and evil villains. Despite the confused idea of time loops, the film entertains adults and children. My vote is eight.

Title (Brzil):"O Orfanato da Srta. Peregrine Para Crianças Peculiares" ("The Orphanage of Miss Peregrine for Peculiar Children")

18 out of 28 people found the following review useful:

I enjoyed the movie

Author: Ploni Almoni
12 October 2016

I am not very familiar with Tim Burton's work (only watched a handful of his movies), neither have I read the book, so I will review this movie as it is, without comparing it to the usual craftsmanship of Mr. Burton nor the characters or events as depicted in the source material.

I found the movie entertaining, and at no point did I wonder "How long more is this going to be?" Any movie that never prompts me to ask this question automatically gets a 6 out of 10.

Many reviews mentioned about huge plot holes in the movie, but I never really understood what the plot holes were that make this a terrible movie. I thought the story was quite easy to follow, even with all the time loops, and makes sense in the make-believe world that we are watching. I usually have trouble making sense of time- travel stories, so the ability to simplify complicated concepts and making it easy to understand for me deserves another star for intelligence. Though probably it wasn't easy enough for a seven year-old to comprehend.

I also thought the soundtrack was quite good, I actually stayed till the credits finished rolling to enjoy the music. This, along with the camera work, gets another star to make it 8 out of 10.

To be honest, if the voting score is in increment of 0.5, I would be more inclined to vote it 7.5 out of 10. I don't expect character development for all the "peculiar children" in a movie like this (that would perhaps be more fitting for a drama series), but the acting can be improved. Eva Green has the best "on-screen presence", but she doesn't appear until 30 minutes into the movie, so a bit of patience is necessary. Also I found the editing a bit too abrupt at some points, but that's about all the complaints I have.

I am quite satisfied with the movie, considering the amount of bad reviews I have been exposed to. :)

40 out of 73 people found the following review useful:

Enjoyable, decent, interesting, absolutely watchable!

Author: nanalyssa p
30 September 2016

I went to the cinema yesterday to watch this movie. I had low expectations because Tim Burton's latest movies were boring but he finally made a decent, interesting movie that did not bore me at all!! Eva Green is amazing and thank God Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter were not in this one AGAIN!! The script, the performances, the direction, the special effects all were decent and enjoyable! Don't get me wrong, it is a fantasy movie, don't expect to watch a masterpiece BUT I really liked it. Go with your kids (not very young, i'd say from 10 years of age and older) and your friends, you will relax and watch something interesting. Especially young people will find this movie really good! Don't hesitate to go to your nearest cinema and watch it! You won't be disappointed!

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