![]() ![]() But as he searches the crumbling ruins, Jacob suspects the house is not as empty as it seems and he soon finds himself face-to-face with Emma, a lovely young girl who hasn’t aged a day since she was photographed by Abe in the 1940’s. Imagine Jacob’s disappointment at finding the once-beautiful Victorian orphanage where Abe lived empty but for the lasting destruction of Nazi bombings in WWII. Golan that a trip to Wales would help him get over Abe’s passing, on her recommendation, Jacob and his bird-watching dad Franklin head to the little town of Cairnholm. Recalling adventurous stories told him as a child by Abe, Jacob finds evidence that those weren’t “stories”, but real people and real events with their own unusual connections to Abe. ![]() Golan and discoveries in Abe’s house as Jacob helps his more than worthless dad pack up Abe’s things, Jacob gets a sense of what he must do. Given that no one believes him, Jacob is sent to a therapist to help him get over his “nightmares.” Between his sessions with Dr. In fact, he is the only one who can see it. (Imagine a malevolent perversion of Burton’s famed “Jack Skellington”.) Jacob not only finds Abe, but he sees the hollowgast. With a strong connection and love for his grandfather Abe, imagine Jacob’s horror as Abe is murdered in his Floridian backyard, apparently while trying to defend himself from a creature that we eventually come to learn is a “hollowgast”, a shapeshifter of sorts, and in this case a 25 foot tall long-limbed gangly thing with slender six foot long razor sharp pointed “fingers”, long pointed teeth and tentacle-filled mouth with an appetite for stealing eyeballs from “peculiars”, and dressed in what might be a lovely pinstriped suit if normal sized. But that is exactly what we have with Tim Burton and MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN, a gloriously goth, visually imaginative and engaging film yet with a caring, sweet edge that finds Tim Burton once again at the top of his game and almost assuredly, at the top of the box office.ĭirected by Burton and written by Jane Goldman based on Ransom Riggs’ inspired best-seller of the same name melding fiction and photography, (side note: If you haven’t already read the book, do it! You will love it.), MISS PEREGRINE introduces us to the world of “peculiars”, but not before we meet 16-year old Jacob Portman. Burton could have hit this one out of the park, if not for these issues.It is rare to find a perfect match between filmmaker and material rarer still to see that match made in heaven come to fruition with glorious result. My feeling is that Tim Burton worked lavishly on adapting the magical elements, but dialed in the between scenes. The script is written by Jane Goldman, a very competent screenwriter who usually works for Director Matthew Vaughn. It's like taking a rollercoaster that goes up and down to the point where the ascent becomes trivial. You're completely enthralled, then bored silly almost immediately after. If only Miss Peregrine could have kept this level of interest throughout the entire film. He also has frightening villains that are the stuff of the worst nightmares. Burton has excelled at giving the gruesome heart beyond a hideous exterior. Their amazing powers, some incredibly ghastly, are a wonder to see. This is Burton's forte, macabre, yet playful, humorous but fraught with danger. It comes to life through excellent production design and visual effects. The world depicted is delightfully sinister. ![]()
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