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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), PG-13, ★★


Let's be honest. It has been a while since I've seen a great Tim Burton movie and Sweeney Todd has been almost 10 years ago. I liked Big Eyes and I think that this is an underrated movie: A small, respectable film about the true story about artistry. When watching the trailers for his next movie, I was mostly a tad excited because I thought that Burton could bring back his signature style mixed with the action sequences and maybe potentially make a fantastic movie. Well, the title can be intact as this was a peculiar movie because even though the production design and visual effects are darkly weirdly magical, the story and villains bring it down a notch or two.

Florida teen Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) is living a mundane life. He gets a call regarding his grandfather, Abe (Terence Stamp). When Jake calls Abe, the old man sounds frightened and crazy. As they make it to Abe's home, Jake and Shelley (O-Lan Jones) sees a mysterious man with white eyes (Samuel L. Jackson) standing in the road. Abe has his eyes missing while he is lying down on the ground as he warns Jake about something awful as he passes away. A monstrous creature approaches Jake as he sees a creature from which Shelley could not see anything.

Jake's aunt gives him a book from Abe which contains a postcard from Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) welcoming his return. Her home is on island in Wales. Jake convinces his father, Franklin (Peter O'Dowd) to travel with him, who did not have the best relationship with Abe. The next day, Jake goes to the home and to the back as he finds a group of children. He gets spooked and runs away, where he gets knocked unconscious. Jake is brought to Miss Peregrine as he gets out of a situation thanks to the peculiar children. She explains to Jake that they live in a time loop, keeping them from the outside world but allows them to be in peace.


Again, the visuals and production design are spot-on surrounding the vibe of peculiarity which is a great theme of Tim Burton's career. So, that is not a big surprise. This is a overlong, messy and somewhat confusing storyline that does not engage me with most of the characters when they are in peril or in some sort of magical time loop. The main plot involving the villain named Mr. Barron is uninteresting and formulaic as basically he needs to kill Miss Peregrine and the children in order for his creatures, the Hollows, to become immortal. You can see what the outcome is going to be a mile away. And, also another problem, if Jake tries to figure out what he needs to do, why does not he ask some of the children or figure it out by himself most of the time instead asking many questions? It's like Harry Potter with so many questions that the answer is looking at you the whole time.

Asa Butterfield is a good young actor but he has been in some underwhelming films including this movie because he plays a one-note character that does not do much except for asking questions and trying to attempt to defeat the villain. He and Ella Purnell who plays Emma have a nice chemistry but that's all about it. Eva Green is still lovely and has a quiet presence as the titular character even though she does not do as much as I'd love for her to do. Samuel L. Jackson rarely gives a bad performance but he plays one of the most forgettable villains as he looks like an evil Satanic rector.

The movie has a solid build-up into the film as we get introduced to Jake's world and to Miss Peregrine's world of peculiar children. However, when the questions pile up and the plot starts to develop, the movie gets uninspired and less magical as this movie is a product of style over substance and it is disappointing as his streak of lackluster films continue. What Burton stills need to work on is to develop the story more, have tighter editing and make it a bit concrete to solidify its foundation of how interesting and magical a story can be like his earlier works. Like the movie's pacing, this is a seemingly magical film that'll disappear in your mind.

**


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