I liked it a lot, best Burton in many many years, maybe even since Sleepy Hollow.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is an imperfect, but largely endearing fantasy film by Tim Burton. The plot turns on an introverted Florida teenager (Asa Butterfield) who, while traveling in Wales, realizes his late grandfather's (Terence Stamp) colorful stories of coming of age in a secluded, supernatural orphanage were in fact true. Eva Green portrays the institution's stylish and wise guardian; she can turn into a falcon and also manipulate time and space. The role, which undoubtedly would have gone to Helena Bonham Carter before her long-term domestic partnership with Burton ended, is a comfortable fit for Green, who regularly fuses the empowered, the macabre, and the seductive in her performances. And the fresh-faced actors cast as the various super-powered children in her charge—one wills plants to grow at an exponential rate, another has the strength of ten men, etc.—are natural and charming. Not so intriguing is lead Butterfield, who never finds a way to invigorate the generic role of an our-world-versus-their-world intermediary who does not realize how important he is. The character and his journey toward heroic self-realization are too dull to champion or sympathize with, particularly when encircled by so many more interesting personalities. This is the film's primary handicap. I also question the casting of Samuel L. Jackson as a chief antagonist, a mad scientist hunting those with peculiar abilities. Jackson is a captivating actor, and his involvement is indeed a rare example of racial diversity in a Burton film, but his standard-issue larger-than-life screen presence (those shouted one-liners) distracts from and softens what could be a truly fearsome character. Beyond the cast, this is a fairly formulaic genre exercise (often involving, at times convoluted and rote), but Burton is in fine stylistic form, crowding every frame with his various aesthetic totems—Gothic filigree, secret topiary gardens—and turning the climax into a delightful, lavish homage to Ray Harryhausen. His direction in general is a tad more playful and personal than in other recent outings, even if he is nowhere near the full strength of his legendary run from Beetlejuice to Sleepy Hollow.

B

David nailed it.

The film is great for the first two-thirds, I'd rank it among some of Burton's best, but once Mr. Barton (Jackson) is properly introduced (after taking Miss Perigrine - that scene was good), the film loses some of its sense of... fear, or desperation, that probably(?) should be portrayed. Jackson certainly isn't bad in the role, but his behavior is often distracting from what's going on.

Overall though, I really enjoyed the film; it's certainly my favorite Burton film since Sweeney Todd, nearly 10 years ago.

It's OK. It's gorgeous on a visual level and the production design is predictably impeccable. But I found the story very hollow and needlessly confusing. It also wastes a pretty outstanding ensemble cast - actors like Chris O'Dowd, Judi Dench and Allison Janney are given next to nothing to do. Eva Green is a delight as the lead though and I also highly enjoyed Ella Purnell's performance. It's got some really great and inventive moments, but could have definitely been better. C+

I liked it. Had some moments towards the end where it kinda just got... weird? IDK, it was good. Eva Green was lovely. Most of the cast was very enjoyable.

B

I liked this one a lot. More than I expected.

8/10 (B+)

Hm... after reflecting on this a bit more, it's a mess. It's pretty watchable and it looks nice but there's something very off with this film. It's a considerable length but I was surprised by how anti-climatic the "climax" was. I did find a lot of things interesting and I am curious as to where the story goes in the books (if this is even a faithful adaptation) but I didn't think this was good. And Sam Jackson? lol what

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was a very pleasant surprise. Well perhaps 'pleasant' isn't the right word. This is a very dark film, not a children's movie at all. But it is extraordinarily enchanting. It's only the third Tim Burton movie I've ever thoroughly enjoyed (after Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Pee-wee's Big Adventure). *A+*

Miss Peregrine is a likable Burton film, but not without flaws. It looks very good and has a nice fairy tale vibe for the most part. Unfortunately the film drifts off near the end, it runs too long and ends up being a very formulaic children's book story. The largest annoyance of the film is probably Asa Butterfield, his acting seems forced and misplaced in talent among the other young actors. Also L. Jackson just doesn't fit the film or the role, he's playing the same Kingsman type villain role and it feels off here. Eva Green is amazing though, she's great and her scenes are enjoyable. With her role, as well as some of the magical effects it's a pleasing film to pass the time. I also found it odd to see Chris O'Dowd playing the American dad. He did a good job with the accent, but I got so used to him in his British roles that I couldn't get his particular casting out of my mind. Burton has a good way to make a film look nice and he does a good enough job with this. Alice was his last film I saw and I quite disliked that, this feels a lot more refreshing and is solid overall.

B

I agree that the action set piece at the end was weaker than the rest of the movie, but it still finished strong after that.

This was good in parts but overstays its welcome overall. We do see the true potential of these gifted youngsters in the end but then it tries to be a kiddie movie than the overall tone it had set till then. The story is needlessly confusing, mostly to bring out the shock factor in the end, I feel that is by the design of the book. 5/10.

I really liked it. I did not like the book, never finished more than the first couple chapters, but this is the best YA adaptation since Hunger Games. The story was interesting if confusing at points, and the acting was good except Asa Butterfield who is robotic and awful in the lead role. Samuel L played his standard role; he wasn't bad. The VFX and production/costume design were great as well.

B+

**1/2 / ***** (C-)

Well, Burton is still finding his old self it seems. This is a slight step down from Big Eyes. Visually it's definitely more Burtonesque, but the story is a bit of a drag and takes a while to get going. The concept of Guardians and time loops seem rather bad also. Doing same chores for decades over and over again? Geeez, so fun. Not being able to come out of the loop (other than to continue if the loop isn't renewed) because you'd age instantly and probably die? Well that sucks. I don't know how this is developed in the books, but hopefully it has more sense than what we were presented in the movie so far. The ending also seems forced also for the sake of a happy ending. I can't help to shake the feeling his actual quest to get into that time would make for a more interesting movie than the one we had here., but alas we only got a short sequence of his travels.

I thought it was quite enjoyable for the most part but it just lost me completely during the last half hour or so.

It takes about 20 minutes of weirdly paced, poorly acted introduction to get us into the titular house. Once we do the movie soars though. The skeleton fight at the end was tons of fun.