Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, and Chris O’Dowd
[rating:3.5/5]
Is Eva Green the coolest femme in movies right now? She’s like a contemporary Joan Crawford, a scene stealer, posing and glaring, announcing her lines rather than delivering them, and using her sinister beauty to spice up even the paltriest material. Look at how much oomph she bought to 300: Rise of an Empire, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and Dark Shadows; plonking her in dreadful films only proves what a star she is. You dare not tear your eyes away for fear of missing even the slightest flicker. It figures she was a Bond girl. She comes to every role fully loaded and she fits perfectly in Tim Burton’s nifty new adventure Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children. Burton allowed her a sex scene in Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp (thankfully absent for this outing) that literally shook the rafters, here he hands her a crossbow to do battle with grotesque monsters. She is a knockout.
It’s a curious film, enthralling, bracing, and muddled. It concerns a young boy called Jacob Portman (Asa Butterfield) whose grandfather (Terence Stamp) used to regale him with stories of his magical life in an orphanage on the Welsh coast. After his grandfather’s death, Jacob finds him in the woods behind his home with his eyes missing, so bereft is he, his parents take him to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Golan (Allison Janney), who suggests Jacob go to Wales to see the orphanage. Upon arrival, he finds it decayed and deserted but soon after, he meets a beautiful young girl who leads him to Miss Peregrine, her orphanage (now restored), and her charges. The relationships between the misfits are curious and why wouldn’t they be? There’s little Bronwyn Bruntley, styled like Shirley Temple, who possesses the strength of a dozen men (it’s a hoot watching her heave an enormous carrot across the lawn), Claire Densmore, whose golden ringlets cover the razor toothed mouth on the back of her head, the fashion-obsessed Horace Somnusson who has prophetic dreams, Emma Bloom, who can start a fire with a caress of her hands, the permanently invisible Millard Nullings, and the saucer-eyed Olive who is so light she wears heavy shoes to keep her grounded. Its the stuff of childhood dreams, and Burton’s.
The orphanage and its residents exist in a time warp where they permanently relive a day in 1943 in an effort to avoid the hollowgasts, tentacle mouthed, towering creatures who work for Baron (Samuel Jackson), a demented demon who preys on Miss Peregrine’s boarders. He wants their eyes you see. It’s deliciously convoluted, and at times there’s a little too much exposition, but Burton sets the stage for a thrilling showdown that slyly highlights how overblown those all too familiar Marvel finales have become. He orchestrates it all mischievously, reminding us of how children’s adventures should be. Baron’s agents may be too much for the young, they are the stuff of nightmares, but he does it all with a wink.
There are scenes here that feel like reworked castoffs of Burton’s cult classicEdward Scissorhands. That’s not a bad thing. If anything it’s a relief that after so many years of bombarding us with over-saturated imagery, and little thought for narrative flow, Burton has returned to the territory that became his signature where, rather than copying other worlds, he created them. Here the fantastiqueis front and centre but it’s imbued with a heady sense of adventure and the unknown; at times, so English is the film’s atmosphere, it feels like an Enid Blyton tale. The blinding pastels of his Alice in Wonderland instalments were expertly realised but they had no charge. Here, and you can believe the kooky Burton would gladly call this mansion home, he’s in his element.
If the film has a flaw, it’s Asa Butterfield’s strange performance. He seems to be in another film altogether. His quietly blooming love for Olive never feels tangible, nor does his relationship with Miss Peregrine. It is his destiny calling and you want him to stand up and answer it. Thankfully Burton overrides it with slam-bang visuals, brisk pacing, and of course, Eva Green. She knows exactly where she is. Right at home.
