MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN – IS ITSELF… PECULIAR

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is, itself, just that – peculiar. That’s not to say it is a bad movie. But it is unusual – and a bit of challenge to watch at times.

The story is about Jake (Asa Butterfield) who feels very ordinary – until his grandfather (Terence Stamp) dies in a mysterious and horrible way – with his eyes sucked out by a shadowy monster. Returning to the place where his grandfather grew up, he comes across a Gothic but romantically beautiful house which serves as a “Home for Peculiar Children” run by an equally mysterious Miss Peregrine (Eva Green). And then strange upon strange, finds the home has existed in a time loop since 1943, where the world around them repeats the same day over and over. And while the children do not age, neither do they lose the memories of the things which happened on previous repeated days – like Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day. But instead of the loop being used as a learning tool, it is being used as a security measure. You see, Miss Peregrine is hiding some very unusual children from — monsters. Which is ironic as some of the children can be a bit off putting themselves: Claire whose mouth of monstrous teeth are hidden in the back of her head, and the twins who have a powerful force underneath a full body canvas outfit or Enoch who puts animal hearts in inanimate objects and brings them to life to fight each other. And others – with equally "peculiar" skill sets.

The acting is quite stylized. At first I thought the children had been under prepared for their scenes as their effect was just a bit stunted. But then other actors appeared who I know full well are at the top of their game, used the same approach.

SPOILERS!!!

Samuel L Jackson plays Barron, the head “bad guy”. The talented Rupert Everett has a surprise and tricky-to-recognize cameo as an ornithologist and Judi Dench – who could win an Oscar by reading a grocery list out loud – makes a departure so abrupt and unexpected that I wondered if it was a homage to Samuel L Jackson’s role in Deep Blue Sea. And all of them act with the same stilted style. I realized it was a deliberate choice by Burton.

Perhaps he intended to create a story book feel. The source material was a series of books originally meant to be a collection of odd photographs to which a story was attached.

The ambiance of the movie harkens back to the old Grimm’s fairy tale approach to children’s stories. When one thinks of children’s movies we think of Finding Dory and The Secret Life of Pets, where violence is cartoonish or mostly takes place off screen or is not visually repugnant or is comical. Even in Harry Potter most of the violence, even deaths, are pretty sanitized.

But in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children the writer and director did not shy away from graphic – even brutal – showings of exactly what they meant. When someone says children’s eyes are stolen and eaten – they do not mean it metaphorically. At one point we watch as a group of well dressed evil "Peculiars" sit about a table and suck in a large pile of eyeballs one at a time. It’s kind of gross but Burton-stylized and fascinating, like a train wreck.

But then what are we to expect from Tim Burton? He, of the Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Also following in the steps of the Grimm Brothers, Burton does not hesitate to show us a dead child or an evil character getting his eyes poked out. But none of it is gratuitous, which saves this particularly “peculiar” outing.

Bad things happen when bad people do bad things. But, also like the Grimm Fairy tales there is merit in heroism and redemption in using your talents for the good of others and love will eventually conquer all.

I do recommend this movie but with provisos for the squeamish and any child under early teen years.