Ava
Green Asa Butterfield Samuel L. Jackson Judi Dench Ella Purnell
Rupert Everett Allison Janney Chris O’Dowd Terence Stamp
Jake (Butterfield) regards himself as just as
ordinary kid, but his grandfather’s (Stamp) stories give a special boost to his
life, informing him about other worlds and other times. These are magical stories that he finds
enchanting, but are discounted by his father (O’Dowd), a skeptical
realist. When something happens to
his grandfather, Jake becomes disconsolate, and is taken to a psychiatrist
(Janney). Jake is trying to figure
out what is real and what is not real, since he is apparently seeing things
that aren’t really there. His
grandfather has told him stories about Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar
Children where he himself lived for a time as a child. And he tells Jake at one point that he
(Jake) should go there. Jake thinks
this is a great idea, and although his parents are doubtful, the psychiatrist
points out how it might be helpful.
So Jake and his father, a bird watcher, head to
the island off Wales. Jake manages
to get his father to go bird watching, while he goes on his own to explore the
Home. He does find it, and
encounters a strange group of children (with special powers) and Miss Peregrine
(Green) herself. They seem to know
who he is already and give him a warm welcome. But just as his grandfather predicted, there are dangers
afloat. Jake is pulled into the
struggle for survival, and in the process discovers things about himself that
he never knew.
The film is classical Tim Burton with its magic
and enchantment, marvelous special effects, and good messages and models for
children. Samuel L. Jackson makes
a fearsome ogre that is not in the novel by Random Riggs on which the film is
based, but added by Burton and Jane Goldman, the screenwriter. It’s a good addition to give the
film more focus. Judi Dench plays
a warm, special grandmother type with a kind of flighty personality, and she
can transform into a bird. Green
is beautiful as Miss Peregrine with her obsession with timepieces and
schedules, and her transformations are awesome and inspiring.
The child actors are very good and convincing
as well. Asa Butterfield is fresh
in his approach as a wide-eyed teenager still capable of wonder, and Ella
Purnell, a friend he meets at the Home, is delightful and skillful in her
special powers. Kids in the
audience should enjoy watching children with special powers do their
thing—blowing oceans away, starting fire with the flick of the wrist, floating
in air, having the strength of three grown men, becoming invisible, able to
throw out bees from inside oneself, wrapping cords of vines around a villain,
and so on.
I also thought the metaphor of stealing
people’s eyes—especially children’s—to gain power and eternal life was a clever
idea, suggesting that vision is ever-renewing and keeps one informed and
up-to-date in the world.
This is a film for those who are drawn to
fantasy and super-human powers. It
could be too frightening in places for very small children, but otherwise, I
think most kids will enjoy and be inspired by it.
Enchanting in its flights of fancy from
a humanizing base.
Grade: A By
Donna R. Copeland
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