“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”

Being the bibliophile I am, I picked up Ransom Rigg’s “Miss Pergrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” because the cover intrigued me. Also a lover of all things old and nostalgic, I saw the faded old photograph on the front and was drawn to the book.  After hastily gobbling the first book, I couldn’t wait to get the second.  Impatiently, I waited for the third book to come out last year. The verdict is still out if there’ll be another in the series, but the last book left some doors open.

I’m sure Ransom Riggs has been compared to J.K. Rowling, although perhaps neither appreciates it.  Still, both authors seem to share a wonderful gift of being able to write down minute details and wonderful descriptions, bringing their books to life with a certain quality that many books lack.  Indeed, it would almost seem that both authors wrote their books with the intent of them being made into movies.

I arrived at the theater with my usual attitude regarding books made into movies: would this Tim Burton movie be true to the book?

After a few minutes in, of course, I noticed that the powers that be had taken a few liberties with the book. I started noting changes right off the bat. There were even some aspects of the movie that seemed to be created from scratch and not a part of the original book at all. However, I soon realized that I didn’t care. This was due to many reasons.

Miss Peregrine is the story of Jacob (Asa Buttefield), a somewhat lost soul whose eccentric ways and sad-sack looks make the audience instantly sympathetic. We soon learn that Jacob’s true childhood friend is his equally eccentric yet incredibly interesting and worldly grandfather, played with mysterious splendor by the fantastic Terrence Stamp. Flashbacks show us how the grandfather shares wonderful tales with Jacob while he is growing up. The tales, while a bit unbelievable and often somewhat terrifying for a small child, are later found to be real.

However, Jacob is the only one who knows that they are real. What follows is a journey that takes Jacob not only to real places his grandfather spoke about, but also to places called “loops” in which people of the past live in idyllic worlds, protected from the outside world and from the evil hollowgasts that once only existed in Jacob’s imagination and his grandfather’s stories.  Along the way, we meet Miss Peregrine (the wonderfully bird-like Eva Green) and her pupils, a group of “peculiars” with special powers and abilities.  Jacob finds himself in the position of watching over the group, all the while learning about his grandfather’s past and all the while realizing how very real his grandfather’s tales were.

The movie is all Tim Burton, who directed and crafts a story with visually-stunning details, superb performances and amazing attention to every little detail. I predict more movies in this series, and I predict more success for the author, Ransom Riggs.

Yes, please go see this movie. You will find it peculiarly entertaining, satisfying and classic.

The movie is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy action, violence and peril.

My grade: A