MOVIE REVIEW | Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Movie: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Book: Same title, by Ransom Riggs
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Release Date: September 30, 2016
Length: 127 minutes

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.

A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to watch this movie. I haven't read the book, and I didn't think that this movie would be for me. However, I was completely wrong!

I absolutely loved the plot of this book. The main character, Jake, was so relatable, and I really appreciated his story. Not only do I love Asa Butterfield, but I love Jake as a character as well. I appreciate that he is so close to his grandfather and isn't this guy who is extremely confident or cocky. A lot of YA material has a female protagonist and many of the male characters are stereotyped. This movie as neither of this and it was a breath of fresh air.

There were a couple times where the storytelling did take me out of the movie. There were little inconsistencies and I couldn't help but notice them. For instance, Emma's floating was so inconsistent. If you didn't know, they switched the powers of Emma and Olive's powers. Emma is lighter than air in the movie, and sometimes her powers were confusing. There is one scene where she immediately lifts into the air as she takes off her shoes. And yet a couple scenes later, she goes to sit at a chair and has to tie herself in. Emma is able to control and push air as well. If she is able to do this, I don't understand why she needs to tie herself down when sitting or even have the shoes. My confusion is quite possibly due to the fact that I haven't read the book. However, a movie is supposed to tell a story on it's own, and I found it lacking in the explanation of everyone's powers, Emma's especially.

One of my favorite thing about the movie was the ending. I thought it was done so well, and it allowed me to still be in the movie long after the credits rolled. There are certain endings in movies that I feel are a bit too perfect and precise, and Miss Peregrine's did a good job of tying up most, but not all, of the loose ends. I'm really interested to see what adventures are next for Jake.

I think the film did a good job of capturing the audience, but not necessarily explaining everything. There were a couple of holes that I filled in for myself in order to completely understand the movie. The plot can be complicated at times, and the movie did falter a bit. However, the film balanced this out by it's great visuals, performances, and script. I was able to care for every single character, which is hard to do with such a vast cast. The movie made me laugh out loud with it's jokes and I was on the edge of my seat anticipating what would happen next.

Miss Peregrine's was such a fun movie. While it was not the best movie ever or anything like that, I had such a blast watching it. Though I can't say whether the movie did the book justice, it did push me to read it! I'm looking forward to seeing how the two compare and contrast. I hope that this movie gets a sequel; it made more than it's budget by over $100 million, so there is a good chance! I guess we'll see! I would for sure re-watch this movie. In fact, I kind of want to own it. For those of you who haven't watched this movie yet, I urge you to! In the barrage of YA adaptations that have been coming out recently, this is a diamond in the rough.

With that, I give this movie
4 out of 5 Stars!
 

Have you read the book and/or watched the movie? What did you think of it?

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you soon with another post!

Happy Reading (and watching)!

Genni @ Ready, Set, Read!