Tim Burton returns to the big screen with his adaptation of the young adult franchise
Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, his first directorial effort since 2014. We look at whether this is a return to the Burton of old after the jump.

2014’s Big Eyes was our last opportunity to see the work of director Tim Burton on the big screen. Burton, known for his fantastical films like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, & Mars Attacks, has transitioned into big budget Disney films in the past few years that have made his fans wonder if there is still some of the subversive director of films like Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Ed Wood in him; especially since Big Eyes was such a paint-by-numbers biography with very little identifiable as a Burton influence.

Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is almost Burton’s homage to himself. We meet Jake (Asa Butterfield), a boy living in suburban Florida who is told tales of the fantastic by his grandfather Abe (Big Eyes‘ Terrance Stamp), whose childhood was spent facing all types of monsters and spending part of World War II living at “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” off of the coast of Wales. The children & their headmistress, Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine (Eva Green), are all unique in that they possess strange, but unique, abilities and are known as “Peculiars”. Jake believes these takes and shares them in school, where he learns that they cannot possibly be true, but that the monster Abe his from were likely Nazis and the home was likely one for Jews in hiding during the war.

But Abe suddenly dies, with his eyes removed, and Jake enters therapy. He tells his therapist Dr. Golan (Alison Janney) that going to see the school would likely help him get over his grandfather’s death. But, unbeknownst to her and his father, Jake’s grandfather told him to find “the bird, the loop and September 3, 1943″ as Jake sees a monster and realizes the creature killed Abe. Jake then journeys to Wales with his father to find if there was a school and if so, what is the truth behind the school of peculiar children.

Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children employs some old school Burton regulars like O-lan Jones. The neighborhood where Jake lives looks exactly like the suburban America of Edward Scissorhands. Jake’s position in life is not unlike that of Lucas Haas’ reluctant hero in Mars Attacks. These touches seem deliberate, as if Burton realizes he has slipped a bit from fan hopes and expectations and this is a chance to reminds us of the visionary he could be. The importance of the relationships between father and soon is a recurring theme in Burton’s work in films like Big Fish, and those elements are done well.

Where the film finds a harder battle is in the special effects, which while impressive, ultimately overshadow the film. Samuel L. Jackson’s villain is a bit over the top which makes take sone out of the film. But Eva Green’s Ms. Peregrine is a good emotional anchor for the film. Butterfield makes a capable hero and his relationship with the children, especially Ella Purnell’s Emma make the viewer feel invested in these character’s journeys.

Ms. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is worth checking out and hopefully a sign of more interesting films to come from Tim Burton.