Quirky Burton meets freaky, ‘Peculiar’ mutants
EVA GREEN as the titular guardian of outcast youngsters
(Rating: Applause)
“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” is visually quirky, sporting filmmaker Tim Burton’s offbeat aesthetic and storytelling sensibilities. To put it simply, it’s like he made an “X-Men” film—and the result is a wonderfully weird, effects-rich romp that introduces a fresh and fantastical world.
Based on Ransom Riggs’ book of the same title, “Miss Peregrine” has bizarre, powerful outcasts, clad in odd, World War II-era clothing. They’re not just the stuff of bedtime stories told by a wizened Polish man, Abraham (Terence Stamp), who has been regaling his American grandchild, Jake (Asa Butterfield), with wondrous tales about old friends and foes since the boy was much younger.
Now 16, Jake discovers the aftermath of a mysterious attack on his granddad, who mutters instructions with his dying breath. Upon the advice of his psychiatrist (Allison Janney), Jake travels with his dad (Chris O’Dowd) to Wales for closure—and hopes to find the orphanage run by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) in order to learn more about Abraham’s wishes.
The unusual-looking sci-fi film feels like an homage to the X-Men (who live and study in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters), while utilizing a whimsical “Harry Potter” atmosphere—but ultimately, Burton’s signature artistry gives them all a favorably funky and freaky flavor.
It helps that Jane Goldman, cowriter of films “X-Men: First Class” and its “Days of Future Past” sequel, delivers a good script. There’s a veritable legion of characters in “Miss Peregrine,” but Burton keeps it from becoming cluttered, and the main ones still shine.
Butterfield, the kid from “Hugo,” has grown up, and portrays the Percy Jackson-esque Jake, whose journey from zero to hero involves grand revelations and mythic conflicts.
ASA BUTTERFIELD (left) and Ella Purnell
Judi Dench appears briefly as an enigmatic headmistress, while Samuel L. Jackson gets to play another character, Barron, like an exaggerated version of his other film roles. But he’s quite enjoyable, if unintentionally comical, sometimes.
Steadily solemn is Eva Green, who fits right in as the titular Miss Peregrine, a resolute and protective guardia—looking like a staple, pretty phantasm from the Burton-verse, but managing to convey another fantastic creature with delightful ease.
