Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

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Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 10-08-2016, 06:51 PM:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children reminds us of what we loved about Tim Burton before he got distracted by all that big budget Batman, Planet of the Apes and Alice In Wonderland nonsense. Burton's strength is in his dark fairy tales of Edward Scissorhands ilk and this film is a return to form in that style.

Unafraid to unsettle his young target audience (if only just a bit), Burton keeps the creepiness quotient on a low boil while interspersing the proceedings with enough lightness to keep things on the sweet dreams side of nightmares. My 9yo was fine with it and, indeed, loved it. Think Coraline-level macabre but perhaps a touch more grisly.

It pays to keep your wits about you in order to follow the film's mild time-bending eccentricities but, if you keep up, it's not hard to follow. There are some minor continuity issues in the editing but if you follow the broad strokes it's easy to fill in the obvious blanks yourself.

Eva Green is all regimented grace and beauty as the titular Miss Peregrine; guardian and mentor to her flock of children with peculiar abilities, protecting them from a bullish world intolerant of those who do not comply with the norm. Asa Butterfield (Hugo, Ender's Game) does well as Jake, the tender boy with no apparent peculiarity, tasked with saving them all from the evil Barron (Samuel L. Jackson), who means to sacrifice them all for the sake of his own immortality. The rest of the young cast also hold their own. There is also a welcome surprise in the impressive array of seasoned actors filling out the secondary roles which include Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Allison Janney, Chris O'Dowd and Terence Stamp.

Following on from last year's Big Eyes, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is a positive sign that Burton's quality trend is on the up once more.

8 out of 10.

Posted by Terry Monohan (Member # 8285) on 10-09-2016, 12:18 PM:

Thanks Stu for your review. We saw this movie two weeks ago up in Reno NV at the Century 16 Park Lane in 2-D. Liked the film so much I bought friends to see it on our huge XD screen in 3-D at the Century 9 in SF CA this past Thursday. Great movie and story and the stereo sound in Dolby Atmos was great at the San Francisco C9 cinema. New recliners and all new carpet smell before they get trashed by spilled drinks. One nice thing It was shot in 1.85 so the whole large square curved XD screen was used. Not like when they show scope now at Cinemark/Century and they don't close the masking even though they have It you see boring white screen at the top and bottom at most of their cinemas for wide screen. The first 15 minutes of this movie runs slow but It does pick up with some great 3-D effects. Liked the carnival on the ocean pier at the end with It's dark ride that they needed to shoot more in. Go check It out as It is doing better boxoffice in Europe and may not be around to much longer in a larger cinema space in the USA. As of Friday 10/7 Century 9 SF moved It from the super XD screen to a smaller auditorium. You have to go see a film like this on a large format type screen because they will move It after a week to a smaller screen when so many new films open up on Fridays.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 10-15-2016, 11:21 PM:

I agree Terry, I thought the first 15 minutes and a little bit here and there could have been trimmed. One aspect that I liked about the Atmos mix was how the music moved and panned around the auditorium, it even showed off the great Florence & the Machine song during the end credits. I hope the other two books can be made into movies.