Film of the Week: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Aside from the beautiful soundtrack, which includes “Wish That You Were Here” by Florence and the Machine, this adaptation of a wonderfully unique world. There are many differences between the book and the film concerning the characters, but as a whole, there’s nothing that breaks the film.

This came out last year, and I had every intention to watch it, because I was intrigued by the originality of it, but unfortunately I just didn’t get round to it until now, and I’m glad that I did. When my friend saw a trailer for this, he said that it was a bad “rip-off of the X-men”, and I’m pleased to announce that he cannot be any more wrong. The first part introduced us to all the characters, and the peculiar children as well as a couple of plot points, but it was near the middle and during the second half when the story really started to kick in, and the blur between each act was made to look effortless, slipping between one and the other without any sign of it being clunky. Although, there were a couple of moments, when Jacob’s grandad rung the home to check up on how everyone’s doing, I felt needed a little bit more of an explanation, but I guess that’s what the books are for and it’s my fault I haven’t read them yet.

Tim Burton’s catalogue has allowed us to see some weird and wonderful imagery, but unfortunately not always enjoyable. This falls into the enjoyment category. In a way, because of the “peculiarity” of the film, no director other than Tim would have done as good a job as he did. I should also point out that neither Johnny Depp or Helena Bonham Carter appeared in this movie, which brings a sense of freshness, because we get to see a different side to Tim’s directing, instead of the familiarities with the two actors across his several films. It almost felt... well, you get the idea.

When I started watching this, I wondered if I was being thrown into the deep end because I hadn’t read the book, but as imaginative as the world is, and as much information that needs to be explained before the story officially begins – although I hadn’t read the book, I didn’t feel as if I absolutely had to have knowledge of it to understand what’s going on. Although this does make me want to read the book now, and whilst I have found out that there are many alterations between the two, it does make me wonder which one I will enjoy more considering I had watched the film first, but that’s always a common debate, isn’t it?

The Casting Director, Susie Figgis, did a fantastic job with paring up the actors and actresses with the characters. Everyone fitted their roles brilliantly, and whilst he wasn’t in the film much, I have to say that Chris O’dowd’s performance as Frank, Jacob’s dad, was heart-warming. A loving and caring father who wants to see his son better after suffering the tragic loss of his grandfather, when it came to the end when Jacob returned to the time loop, I had wondered how on Earth his father would have reacted and said. Even though we don’t see what he does, I do feel sorry for him. Although, I’m sure his grandfather will fill in all the necessary details. Yeah, if you hadn’t seen the film, that last part didn’t make any sense, but I do highly recommend that you do, though, and whilst you’re at it, purchase the song “Wish That You Were Here” by Florence and the Machine, because that truly is a beautiful song to listen to.

The next question that formed in my mind as the credits were rolling and I was miming along to the song was, because I wasn’t able to watch it last year, but if I had, would it have made my top 10 list, and if so where would it have gone? Well, it’s an original world, the story was told and well and Tim Burton’s directing allowed us to understand all that we needed so we didn’t get lost in all the information and story. It surprisingly didn’t take me long before I decided that it would have made it onto my list, and I also knew exactly where it would have sat.

Passengers comes in at number 9, and whilst I didn’t like the part that felt as if the characters got far too lucky, both the leads, and the character development throughout helped it secure a place on there. Believe it or not, I found myself making a controversial decision by taking having it replace Finding Dory, which was at number 8. Finding Dory was classic Pixar throughout, with wonderful emotional moments, but when it came to an octopus driving a van along the motorway and the fish navigating, it just felt a little uncharacteristic for Pixar, which is why it sat at number 8, and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children replaces it because nothing felt out of place. It was a fictional world and so technically they could do anything, but they didn’t and it kept the same personality throughout. Whilst I was absolutely sure I had made the right decision, it did feel a little weird dismissing a Pixar film, but I do stand by my opinion.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)