A teenager finds himself transported to an island where he must help protect a group of orphans with special powers from creatures intent on destroying them.
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is...well...peculiar. It's safe to say I'm not the biggest Tim Burton fan, I find that his imagination takes over and detracts from a story. I was worried he would do the same here. Guess what? He did. A young teenager finds his grandfather dead, his last riddling words spark Jake into unraveling the mystery to his sudden death. He eventually discovers an alternate time loop that consists of children with special powers known as 'Peculiars'. We're talking invisibility, levitation, pyro-kinetics, a boy spewing bees from his mouth and a young girl with another mouth on the back of her head. Suffice to say, this was Burton's interpretation of the X-Men. Some of these peculiarities are useful and thoroughly explored, others are just shown once. On top of this we have 'Hollows', demented creatures that desire to eat the eyes of 'Peculiars' so that they can return to human form. Hmmmm how best to describe these ghastly creatures you might ask? Easy. Slender Man! Imagination aside, Burton has crafted yet another creative world. There is no doubt he is a genius when it comes to creating fantasy realms. The problem is, he doesn't focus on developing a coherent and compelling story. Guarantee atleast 90% of the dialogue is exposition. Explaining the vast amount of rules involving time loops, alternate realities, peculiarities and the primary antagonist...it's too much! It's overstuffed. It's important to include scenes where the characters just interact naturally without having to progress the story so that we can relate to them and become emotionally invested. It started off well, and then quickly descended into explanation hell. Apart from that massive issue, this film works as a family fantasy adventure. The visual effects were pretty decent for the most part, except the 'Hollows' who were terribly animated. Performances were serviceable. Asa Butterfield struggles occasionally to act with expression, but he does hold the film. Eva Green looked the part and was the only captivating performance. Not Burton's finest, but it is watchable.
