Tim Burton Enchants With Otherworldly Adventure ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’

Amanda Nolan

Tim Burton serves up an early Halloween treat with “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.” The film is based on Ransom Riggs’ bestselling fantasy book, which was inspired by the haunting vintage photographs the author would collect at flea markets, and Burton delivers with an enchanting, deliciously creepy film.

Teenager Jake (Asa Butterfield) lives an ordinary suburban life. He feels like an outsider, but he’s close with his grandpa, Abe (Terence Stamp). With his collection of weathered photographs, Abe often tells Jake about the whimsical home he lived in as a child. The home was filled with children who have “peculiarities” (super powers) run by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), the pipe-smoking headmistress with the ability to transform into a bird.

After a mysterious incident leaves Grandpa Abe dead, Jake visits the Welsh island where the home is located to find some answers. At the island, Jake sadly discovers that the Peregrine home is in ruin, destroyed by a bomb raid in 1943. However, while exploring the charred remains, he runs into a group of children. They take him through a portal, and Jake finds he has traveled back in time, with the home restored to its former glory and he meets everyone from Grandpa Abe’s stories, like the invisible Millard, the floating Emma, and the illustrious Miss Peregrine.

Jake fits in with the group and is fascinated with the otherworldly things he witnesses, but it’s clear the home is also filled with mystery, dark secrets and danger. As Jake learns more about their world, he finds himself involved in adventures beyond his wildest dreams, and also that maybe he is not as ordinary as he thought.

Under the helm of Tim Burton, “Miss Peregrine” is not a typical children’s movie. The dreamy visuals sometime take a nightmarish turn, even edging into horror territory. Burton, however, balances the tone nicely, with lacing some of the more grotesque sequences with dark humor. The peculiarities are compelling because they are not too cutesy; for example, one child blows bees out of his mouth while another is able to bring killer puppets to life.

The cast is superb all around, from the young performers to the adults. Eva Green is perfect as Miss Peregrine, a Mary Poppins type who is precise but fiercely protective of the children she cares for. Samuel L. Jackson is in his usual swagger form as the villain Barron, and even though Chris O’Dowd has a smaller role, he is a lot of fun as Jake’s pragmatic father.

The classic quality is refreshing; the children are intelligent and resourceful without being snarky and obnoxious. There are some beautifully done scenes that evoke childlike wonder, like the first time Emma delicately floats into the sky or when Miss Peregrine stops time. For once, Burton avoids the overblown garishness of his other children’s fantasy films “Alice in Wonderland” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” “Miss Peregrine” has a strong heart, valuing Jake’s relationships and presenting the poignant message that peculiarities may be the very thing that makes someone special.

“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” hits theaters nationwide Sept. 30.