Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

A sweet story, and some good acting from the younger actors, but there were a couple of problems for me. The only black actor, while portrayed in a superbly camp fashion, is the bad guy. The only black or Indian extras are seen several times in the modern England scene, but in no way reflect the true makeup of modern England (although maybe Blackpool is really like that, with no black inhabitants or visitors). Another problem is the lack of depth and the pace of the film. It feels like it wants to rush along rather than let us enjoy any characters and reflect on who they are. But rushing along feels plodding, like everything was so carefully planned but they missed excitement, surprise and most importantly enjoyment. There's suspense, but it just feels like waiting for the next scene. For children, this may be fine. But as an adult, it's a bit dull - not sharp.

I'm a fan of Tim Burton whose slightly macabre and fantastical films always seem that little out of place with the usual Hollywood fanfare that gets trotted out. Each child's peculiarity gets at least one stand out scene with the exception of one child who's bite isn't really all that interesting. Miss Peregrine herself doesn't really seem to do that much but advance the plot at particular times, considering the film is named after her she really plays a supporting cast role when compared to the likes of Mary Poppins or Nanny McPhee. The lead is an American teenager named Jake who does the whole zero to hero schtick which has been seen in many a film before. This is worth watching though if you like Tim Burton's bizarre style of filming, if you are not a fan than maybe worth skipping.

Still waiting for Tim Burton's back to form film. This isn't it sadly. A very passable and ok film. Plenty of interesting characters that don't really get much explored. Instead we get a boring teen romance that has been done countless times over. It's not a bad film, but it's not gonna blow you away either. The story feels like it had the potential but it wasn't adapted very well as there's not a lot of depth to differentiate it from all the other teeny X-men clones. Found myself looking at the time way too often and to me that's a sign that the movie has failed to keep be entertained.