Support the Free Press | Facts matter. Truth matters. Journalism matters
Salt Lake City Weekly has been Utah's source of independent news and in-depth journalism since 1984. Donate today to ensure the legacy continues.
Film Search
click to enlarge
It’s wonderful to see Tim Burton shed some of his recent tendency toward visual overkill; it’s just a shame to see it wasted on something that feels so familiar. This adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ novel follows a teenager named Jacob (Asa Butterfield) as he discovers his grandfather’s family history with a strange orphanage in Wales—headed by the mysterious Miss Peregrine (Eva Green)—that houses children with unique abilities, living in a time loop in one day in 1943. On its most basic level, the story provides some satisfying adventure seasoned with a dollop of teen romance, all given the macabre flavor of vintage Burton. But screenwriter Jane Goldman also contributed to the X-Men movie series, and it’s easy to see the overlap: Miss Peregrine’s Home feels like nothing so much as a European branch office of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. Every story beat feels lifted from some other young-hero narrative or comic-book movie, with Green and a white-eyed Samuel L. Jackson (as the Big Bad) providing the only personality to a largely bland cast of characters. A real Burton-saince will require some better material.
Official Site: www.foxmovies.com/movies/miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar-children
Director: Tim Burton
Producer: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Derek Frey, Katterli Frauenfelder, Nigel Gostelow and Ivana Lombardi
Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Allison Janney, Chris O'Dowd, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Finlay MacMillan, Lauren McCrostie, Hayden Keeler-Stone, Georgia Pemberton, Milo Parker, Raffiella Chapman, Pixie Davies, Joseph Odwell, Thomas Odwell, Cameron King, Louis Davison, Kim Dickens and O-Lan Jones
Director: Tim Burton
Producer: Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Derek Frey, Katterli Frauenfelder, Nigel Gostelow and Ivana Lombardi
Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Allison Janney, Chris O'Dowd, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Finlay MacMillan, Lauren McCrostie, Hayden Keeler-Stone, Georgia Pemberton, Milo Parker, Raffiella Chapman, Pixie Davies, Joseph Odwell, Thomas Odwell, Cameron King, Louis Davison, Kim Dickens and O-Lan Jones
