On the plane I give myself time to watch a movie, at home almost never. But still I don’t watch all the pulp. Next to me, the neighbor is watching Red Sparrow, a movie that doesn’t make you happy, so from a distance.
I pick out this film by Burton: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Actually because everything by Burton can be trusted. Also this movie is as pleasantly peculiar as Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Dark Shadows.
However, no Johnny Depp in the high profile role in this film. Asa Butterfield plays Jake, a boy from an ordinary family with an agonizingly unimaginative and unpatriotic father, who has found his life’s fulfillment in bird-watching. Asa is a skinny boy who fits the cartoon character role of Jake just fine.
Jake’s grandfather turns out to have led a hidden life as a hunter of evil creatures. Jake finds himself following in his grandfather’s footsteps. He must save Peculiar Children from devil-like creatures (Samuel L. Jackson) who are targeting their eyeballs. The story is difficult to retell, but is a fairy tale with the typical Burton horror character without becoming flat horror. Fantasy and reality are pleasantly blended into a Roald Dahl-like story.