I have to say first and foremost that I am a fan of Tim Burton, and that I do like and prefer darker films, so my expectations were pretty much in line with all of that when I watched Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It is not light subject matter in regards to the story I have to say, but I rather enjoyed the idea overall along with the characters. The basic premise is there are "peculiar" children in the world with unique peculiarities, talents, or powers; think mutants from X-Men, but less action oriented. These children live in protective environments guarded by certain individuals who can manipulate time, and they live there to protect themselves from humans, and also from people who are hunting them down for something that they possess. The main character, Jake, has a unique peculiarity which is greatly helpful for the group of children that he meets after his grandfather dies. With Miss Peregrine's guidance he explores a side of himself that he never knew existed. Asa Butterfield plays Jake the main character, and he did an excellent job and has grown up so much since being young Mordred in the British series Merlin. He was exceptional with his young, albeit rather flat character. Eva Green as Miss Peregrine was in my opinion the best part of the entire film, but I have to admit that I am highly biased when it comes to her. Her character was mysterious, fascinating, cool and highly complex; like there is something more to her than meets the eye, and I wish that they would have spent more time focusing on her and developing her character more. Ella Purnell who played Emma Bloom was essentially Mr. Butterfield's "love interest" did a lovely job, but her character was also rather flat, but pleasant and enjoyable. Samuel L. Jackson plays the villain of the film, Barron, and for some odd reason they chose him rather than somebody else who might have been a far better fit. A lot of directors do that with Sam Jackson; they just have him in the film to....well....have him in the film even if it doesn't necessarily make sense. For some odd reason Judi Dench had a rather highly irrelevant role which I wouldn't classify as a cameo, but it really felt that way; not certain why a woman of her caliber would take such a role, but I'm certain she has her reasons. Terrence Stamp had a lovely role as Jake's grandfather, and Rupert Everett had a delightful cameo role as well, along with Allison Janney. The individuals who made up the cast of the children were also quite good, and it was really awesome to see Milo Parker from Mr. Holmes as one of the young actors. All in all a pretty decent cast.
There may be some disagreement about Tm Burton's directing abilities considering the film was not much of a success, at least based on how much money it made in comparison to how much it cost to create and market. I believe he did a fairly good job, although things did come across as a little scatterbrained at times and not necessarily quite fluid considering the subject matter of the story and plot. Apparently the screenplay written by Jane Goldman is based upon a book by Ransom Riggs, which is a very fascinating concept and I think that I shall get around to reading the books. The music by Michael Higham and Matthew Margeson was good from what I can remember but nothing really extraordinarily good or memorable. Special effects were relatively good as was the action, even though this is more of an adventure story than action film. The cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel was quite good, and the set design was especially good; something that Tim Burton always seems to nail. And of course Colleen Atwood did the costume design which was marvelous as always; she is quite incredible at her job. I have to say that I really enjoyed the film. It wasn't amazing, and at times was rather disgusting and disturbing, but I liked it a lot and will definitely end up watching again in the future. It's more of a family film for older children not so much younger children, and it is dark, but still good like all of the great Gothic fairy tale stories. Definitely recommend this one. Well in regards to world events and news, this weekend in the United States of America is going to be one to remember no matter what you're perspective. Hopefully everything anyone says or does will be done in a respectful and safe manner in the spirit of democratic freedom and courteous, polite attitudes. If not...well....things will definitely get interesting. May the Force be with us all.The Peculiar Children
Eva Green on Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Split trailer (looks interesting despite the fact that they got the psychiatry totally wrong)
