MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

US, 2016, 127 minutes, Colour.
Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Alison Janney, Chris O'Dowd, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Finlay Mac Millan, Lauren Mc Crostie.
Directed by Tim Burton.

Peculiar is definitely the right word for the title of this film version of Ransom Riggs’ novel. He is an American writer and the action opens in Florida but moves to the United Kingdom.

When we think about the career of director, Tim Burton, ‘peculiar’ is certainly a word that comes to mind whether it be films of decades ago like Beetlejuice and his Batman films or his version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sweeney Todd or his Alice in Wonderland. No lack of peculiarity.

Strangely enough, defying the expectations of a Tim Burton film, it opens in a very sunny Florida, with our hero, Jake (Asa Butterfield with an American accent) being harassed at his job in the supermarket. But, his main concern is his elderly grandfather to whom is devoted and who has told him stories of monsters and fables all during his childhood. Grandfather, Abe, is a very BritishTerence? Stamp. Then it takes on a touch of the weird, Abe going out into the woods, a sinister monster appearing, his dying and his eyes disappearing but his final words encouraging his grandson to seek out the monsters and save the children.

What are his parents to do? They take him to a psychiatrist, played by Alison Janney, who quietly sits and listens, suggesting that he go to Britain to track down the home that his grandfather had spoken about. His father, Chris O’Dowd?, decides to go and then pays some youngsters to keep his son company on the island that they have arrived at.

So, Jake decides to try to find the home – and does, finding it situated in a time loop, stuck in September 1943, Miss Peregrine taking care of Peculiars (and, with some of them, that is rather an understatement given their appearance, their powers, touches of fire, blowing of air, little girls with tremendous strength, an invisible boy… Miss Peregrine herself (Eva Green), looks very glamorous, but is something in the vein in her British articulation of Mary Poppins and Nanny Mc Phee.

Gradually, we enter more willingly into this world with Jake, fascinated by the home, the reliving the past including German bombers flying over the house and dropping a bomb – with Miss Peregrine able to wind back her watch and save the children in the house. There is a lovely girl called Emma who is attracted to Jake and he to her – she has a huge capacity for blowing air which comes in handy when they go underwater and she examines a wreck, removing all the water, and also comes in handy at the end in a confrontation with the villain.

Jake and the audience learn the story of Abe. The dilemma is whether Jake should stay in 1943 or go back to 2016 and his father. Without giving the plot away, one might say “something of both”.

Then we start to see the monsters – although the children cannot see them. Miss Peregrine realises that Jake is a Peculiar because he actually can see the monsters – and that takes us to the rest of the film, the confrontation with the strange creatures, and the humans who have become monsters and depend on (and this is really macabre and peculiar) on gouging out eyes and eating them to regain something of their humanity!

The villains are led by Samuel L. Jackson, hamming it up exceedingly, looking like a voodoo zombie with luminescent eyes and going through all the tics of villainy that he can imagine. On the other hand, there are some cameos by Rupert Everett and a very welcome Judi Dench.

It all excites the imagination, time loops, the closing of the loops, opening up more loops, the survival of the children in other worlds, their growing day by day within the loops but the threat of their immediate ageing if they were to come into the present. What should Jake do?

Well, the only thing is to submit oneself to Tim Burton and his imaginative recreation of Ransom Riggs’ novel and wonder what one might do in Jake’s situation.

1. Popular book? Fantasy? Audience age range?

2. Tim Burton, his career, fantasy, the weird and the peculiar?

3. The fantasy sequences, imagination, design, visuals, special effects?

4. The Florida settings? Ordinary, supermarket, homes, streets, sunshine? The contrast with Wales, the island, the sea and the cliffs? A touch of the bleak? The contrast with the house, exteriors, interiors, the sea, the gardens? 1943? The musical score?

5. The action sequences, special effects, stunt work? Excitement?

6. Florida, 2016, Jake and his work, spurned by the boys and girls? Quiet? His concern about his grandfather, getting the lift? Talking with his grandfather, the disappearance into the woods, his grandfather dying, the absent eyes, the message, the mystery?

7. The grandfather and his telling the stories to the young Jake? Background in Poland, Britain, the war, the story of the monsters, fighting the monsters, protecting the children?

8. Jake and his parents, concern, taking him to the psychiatrist, her advice, the decision to go to the island – (and the later revelation that this was Barron in disguise)?

9. The island, the father and his concern, paying the boys to be with Jake? Jake and his wandering, searching for the home?

10. The home, the time loops, September 1943, the war, the German planes and bombardment? Miss Peregrine and her appearance, manner of speaking, and nanny type? The range of children, Peculiars? Visual, their powers? Emma and Olive, Enoch? The friendliness? Jake and the attraction to Emma? Enoch and his hostility, Emma and her sweetness, Oliver and the attraction to Enoch? The invisible boy?

11. The story of the day, reliving it, the German planes, the bomb, Miss Peregrine and her rewinding her watch? The monsters, her firing the arrow? The children unable to see the monsters? Jake able to see – his gift as a Peculiar?

12. The story of Abe, going to the war, living a normal life, ageing? His 2016 letter to Miss Peregrine and Jake reading it? The possibility for entering into the loop and exiting? Interacting?

13. Jake, going out of the loop, meeting his father, the mystery of the dead sheep and their eyes?

14. Miss Peregrine and others transformed into birds? Barron and his story? His sinister experiment, the creation of monsters, the absence of eyes? Changing? The need for removing eyes, feasting on eyes? His plan, new experiment? In Blackpool?

15. Jack returning, with Emma, going underwater, the boat, her blowing the air, a secret place? The preparation for the later voyage?

16. Miss Peregrine, the bird, transformation into Miss Avocet, her helping with the children?

17. Barron, the attack, Jake and the knife, Barron pressurising Miss Peregrine, transformation into a bird, into the cage? The children and the confrontation with the monsters?

18. Going back to the boat, the children on the boat, the different powers to get it going, the trip to Blackpool?

19. The ghost train, the pier, 1943, the present? The plan, the skeletons coming alive? Jake and seeing the monsters, their attack, the children throwing snow and icing to make them visible? The fights? Destruction?

20. Using the pier, the merry-go-round, the strong girl? The buildup to the confrontation with Barron, his madness, the voodoo look, his death?

21. Jake, the farewell, back to Florida, meeting his grandfather again, his urging him to go back?

22. His arriving, his long story of his journey to get back to the island, the different places, the loops – and a happy future with Miss Peregrine watching over them?