RogerEbert.com — Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
It’s essentially “Groundhog Day” meets “X-Men.” But really, Tim Burton’s latest fantasy adventure is much more complicated than that, with a dense mythology and overly explanatory dialogue that may leave you wondering what you’d just seen. The costumes are gorgeous, though. My RogerEbert.com review.
Like Suicide Squad, Miss Peregrine is an interesting mess of a film. I liked the hybrid of Enid Blyton and Guillermo Del Torro and that the film goes to some genuinely goes to some dark places. I bet if you read Jane Goldman’s screenplay you’ll find a far more tight and concise story but unlike Suicide Squad the studio can’t be blamed for wrecking it. I suspect that Tim Burton is a compulsive tinkerer who insisted on making his own changes, to the detriment of the story. Just look at Alice Through the Looking Glass on which Burton was a producer, it’s so overstuffed with plot that it suffocates under it’s own weight. Although unlike ‘Alice’ Miss Peregrine has more interesting ideas and pleasures to be found.