A Geeky Dad's Movie Guide: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

As I mentioned in the prequel to this series, I will be viewing these movies through the lens of a dad watching a movie next to his kids. My opinion might be very different if I saw the films alone or with other adults.

Today I present: "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children".

Before I give my opinion of what "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is... I would like to begin with what it isn't.

1. It is not a complete waste of an adult's time if they take their kids to see it.
2. It is not for very young children (I'd say 10 and up. My son is 11 and had to cover his eyes 3 times. You may want to do a little research if you aren't sure.).
3. It is not a movie that you can only enjoy if you have read the books (I have not read them).
4. It is not a typical Tim Burton movie.

The fourth point is the most important one. I am a fan of Tim Burton's movies. In fact, I didn't realize how much of a fan I truly was until I sat down to write this piece. I have seen and enjoyed 16 of the 19 movies he has written or directed (I never saw Sweeney Todd, Big Eyes or Frankenweenie). Obviously some of these I liked morer than others, but I generally enjoy his trademark style with unique visuals and dream-like (or nightmare-like) aesthetics.

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Touchstone Pictures and Skellington Productions Inc

Even though I appreciate Burton's style tremendously, it would have been a huge mistake if he used it in this film. Don't worry, if you are a huge fan of his, he does throw you a bone or two with some really cool looking creatures, but he could not use it throughout the entire movie. The movie needs to seem real. It needs to make kids think that there really could be a peculiar school just on the other side of those mysterious looking tress they pass by every day. If Burton had used his fantastical style, that would have been lost.

That being said, it still is a fantasy movie made for children. If "suspension of disbelief" is a big problem for you, you will not like this movie. You almost have to check your brain at the door and just enjoy the fun ride. If you think too much, you will find far too many plot holes. For example, if the kids all have powers, why do they only really use them in the final battle scene? I actually asked my son this question after the movie. He responded, "Dad if they used them early, there would have been no movie. What fun is that?" Great point! If you can just think like a kid for 120 minutes, you can have a great time during this movie.

Can you think like a child for 120 minutes?

Without giving away any spoilers, the movie centers around Jake, a boy who has grown up listening to his grandfather's amazing stories of "Peculiar Children". Jake suffers a terrible and mysterious loss. He uses his apparent depression as an excuse to travel to Wales in order to solve the mystery. Once there he meets the Peculiar Children... and that is all I will say about the plot.

Like most kids movies, there is an action sequence at the very beginning in order to get the kids to settle down. This movie did this particularly well. The action was quick, but it was effective. It gave my son a reason to sit through the "boring part" (or what we adults refer to as "the plot"). And it wasn't so ridiculous that I rolled my eyes. The effects were excellent and I really enjoyed it.

The next 30 minutes of the movie are slow, but necessary. If a kids' movie isn't going to be completely mindless, the creators need to risk that kids will sit still for 30 minutes so a real story can be told. "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" takes this risk and it pays off. You learn just enough about all the characters to care if they live or die. Honestly, in a kids' movie with this many characters, that's really the best you can hope for. Is there deep character development? No. Would my son be upset if any character died? Yes. That is good enough for me. In fact, after the movie, we asked which character was his favorite. He listed his top four... but the list kept changing on the ride home. So he was able to rattle off at least eight characters he liked. I liked them too.

As far as the acting goes, no one is going to win an Oscar for their performance in this film. But no one was really annoying either. The villains over acted (because they are bad guys in a kids movie duh!) and the heroes laid it on a little too thick, but sometimes kids need these over the top performances to connect with movies. Good actors in children's movies find a way to give the kids what they crave without completely turning off the parents. This film succeeded in this area as well.

Now the big question: was the movie fun? Yes it was. The special effects are brilliant. One of the reasons I suggested that only older children see this movie is directly because of the realistic special effects. There honestly isn't very much action, so the movie needs to keep the audience entertained by showing "cool stuff". There are plenty of scenes of the kids using their "Pecularity" for every day tasks. The tasks themselves of course are boring. However, if you spice it up with a floating girl, all of a sudden it's worth paying attention to. There is of course an epic battle scene at the end. The scene is exciting... even if it is full of plot holes.

The battle is also quite long. Too often, the writers of children's movies just slap on a quick formulaic battle at the end of the movie so they can check that off of their lists of tasks that must be completed. However, this one lasted just long enough to make my son say "it was worth sitting through all of that boring stuff."

I am not going to give a rating number or a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". There will be no tomatoes here. Instead, I give you this:

Number of times I fell asleep: 0
Number of eye rolls: 0
Number of face palms: 0
Number off times my kids asked to go to the bathroom or get food out of sheer boredom: 0
Number of times I checked steemit: 0
Number of times I said "That's ridiculous": 3
Did my kids like it: Yes
Would I see it without my kids: Probably not... but maybe

All images not cited below the image were from "Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children" from Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Chernin Entertainment and Scope Pictures