Screened Out – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

[three-star-rating]Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Judi Dench, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Terrence Stamp[/three-star-rating]

Tim Burton peddles in peculiar stuff like Miss Peregrine. So it is no wonder he opted to film Ransom Riggs’s famous YA story (or a version thereof – this expands the first book significantly). It’s a tale of gifted, perpetual children and the bird-women who protect them from extinction.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children presents a fascinating and wondrous world. It also introduces intriguing characters. Finally, there is no shortage of that brilliant Tim Burton visual style. And yet what it often lacks is something that hollows out many other Burton films: storytelling cohesiveness.

Butterfield (Hugo) is Jacob, suffering a family tragedy. Because it’s one Jacob swears monsters caused, everyone thinks the child has gone nuts. After several sessions with a child psychologist (Janney), Jacob and his spacy, absent father (O’Dowd) go to the Welsh coast to recuperate and patch up their psychic holes. Instead, Jacob discovers a hidden world of peculiar children – children with strange gifts like invisibility and the ability to control air or fire. The children live in a sort of Neverland created by Miss Peregrine (Green), a bird-woman who can control time.

Unfortunately, Jackson and other baddies are still out to get the peculiars. He and some very terrifying creatures want to eat the kids’ eyes and torture Miss Peregrine and her kind. This is how the villains become immortal. So all they need to do is figure out how to get inside Miss Peregrine’s secret hideaway.

Burton is perfectly fit for this peculiar world. His visual style meshes to a tee. He brings on many of his favorite coworkers, like costumer Colleen Atwood. He also mixes it up with screenwriter Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, Kingsmen, Stardust).

Coincidentally, this is another story about appreciating your differentness – a story Burton peddles well. Miss Peregrine also allows Burton’s dark, quirky humor to blend in with more terrifying moments.

Still, Burton misses the chance to breathe real life into many moments. Green and Jackson chew up the scenery like one would expect. The children are a bit blander. And poor Dame Judi Dench is basically shoved into a thankless role.

Firstly, the editing damages the film. For example, the film jumps from scene to scene as if it’s trying to cram all its story bits in under a time limit. There are such weird cuts at places; I could imagine a film class freezing the DVD and asking each other, “Was that edit effective?’ No. “Was it confusing?” Yes. “Did it throw you off, and take you several seconds to get back into the film?” Yes.

Secondly, the acting doesn’t always help either. Burton prizes a certain deadpan that doesn’t work when the scene should be thrilling. Which is weird, because Burton does a lovely job with touching moments, like Miss Peregrine showing her love and commitment to her wards. Other moments – battles with the villains – seem rather lifeless. The finale is actually sort of a letdown, energy-wise. Though death shows its ugly face in the beginning, nothing in the end like anyone’s life is at stake.

[rating-key]

There is still enough here in Miss Peregrine’s peculiar world to make the film worth seeing. Riggs’ creation and Burton’s vision are their particular gifts that keep Miss Peregrine aloft.