Praise4Media #59 - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (A Strange Halloween 2)

Children with powers, a familiar game

But this film does not have an X in its name

They still need a home, one hidden from sight

But all will change on this all Hallows night

A boy in grieving, another cliché

His adventures will help him find his way

We enter the house of Mrs Peregrine

It’s a peculiar night on a Strange Halloween

My, does this feel like a Rage Issues callback. Quite a lot of familiar faces in this one, and a few that will become familiar faces soon enough. Mrs Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was based on a book (I feel like we’re starting adaptation month 2 weeks early) by Ransom Biggs. Adapting it to screenplay is Jane Goldman, who has worked on several projects covered through Rage4Media, including X-man First Class and Days of Future Past (aka the good ones) and the Kingsman movies.

Bruno Delbonnel is the cinematographer and did the same for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and The Darkest Hour. And in the directors chair we have Tim Burton, who you might remember from my early Batman reviews. I’m still not a major fan of Burton’s work, his unique visual style needs suitable projects and they’re not always the projects he ends up doing. I’ll come back to this in my eventual Dumbo review. Either way though, I do credit him for helping revitalise Batman’s image in the 80’s and several of his more independent projects are enjoyable.

Still, the film ended up doing decently, earning just shy of $300m at the Box Office on its $110m budget, although it had a mixed response critically with a 64% Rotten Tomatoes Critic Rating and a 60% audience rating with average scores of 5.93/10 and 3.49/5 respectively. Let’s take a look and see where things go.

We’re quickly introduced to Jake Portman, our protagonist, played by Asa Butterfield from Enders Game. He’s working a boring job in retail, working on a poorly planned display that gets knocked over by some dipsh*ts in seconds. Don’t get too annoyed by them to them, we don't see them again. He gets a phone-call.

His grandfather is having an episode, it would seem, and because his father is a lazy sh*t, it’s up to Jake to calm him down. He calls his grandfather, Abe Portman (Terrance Stamp aka Zod from Superman 2) who asks about the key to his gun cabinet, it’s been taken away for his own protection (better idea, why not just take the gun?) and wonders how he’s going to fight ‘them’ without his gun. He’s apparently suffering from dementia… *sigh*

They arrive at his house, after a jump scare from Samuel L Jackson, I’ve reviewed like a dozen Samuel L Jackson films, take your pick. Anyway, he finds Abe’s body out in the woods minus his eyes. He begins rambling telling him to ‘Find the loop’ and ‘the bird will explain everything’ Jake sees a monster in the woods shortly after.

Police believe he was attacked by wild animals. Except any detective worth a salt on the force, would notice the lack of scratch marks on his face! Seriously, 2 minutes in the makeup chair would’ve fixed this. Jake spends 3 weeks with a psychologist regarding his nightmares and believing the monster might be a sign of mental unrest. Jake reveals that Abe told him stories about people with abilities, one might even describe them as peculiar and them living in hiding from the monsters. He even tried to ramble that at school but of course, he wasn’t believed. His father later told him a little about the War and how Abe moved from Poland because of the Nazis.

Upon clearing out Abe’s house, Jake’s father, Frank (Chris O’Dowd – who played Richard in Thor: The Dark World… who?) remarks on how Abe was often away and they assumed he was disloyal (probably not the best time to mention this) they find a postcard from the Island of Cairnholm in Wales, written by the head of the orphanage Abe grew up at. They show it to the psychiatrist, Dr Nancy Golan (Allison Jenny – who was in Spy) who convinces Frank that maybe paying the place a visit might help Jake gain closure.

Later that day, it’s Jake’s birthday and he spends most of his own party in his room… Maybe throwing a massive party for the guy this soon after everything was a really, really bad idea. He gets a book that Abe had saved for him in the house.

Turns out Frank is a bird-watcher and on the boat they to the island they see a Peregrine falcon, Jake jokes that it could be Mrs Peregrine but Frank is an idiot and doesn’t hear the jovial tone and thinks he might be being serious.

They check into the one B&B they have on the island and as Frank heads to the beach to do some bird-watching, he persuades some of the local clientele to show Jake the orphanage. These two nitwits have a gimmick that they’re terrible at rap, they’re also so pointless to the plot I can’t be bothered mentioning their names.

Turns out the orphanage was destroyed by German air raids during the Second World War with no survivors. The postcard Abe had was not supposed to be more than a couple of days old, this should be more suspicious. But what can you do? Frank recommends that he talk to Dr Golan if this is getting a bit much in a way that makes me feel like they’re doing this because he won’t talk to him.

Jake later lies to his father, saying the other kids asked him to hang out so he can be away from him again. Frank doesn’t find this at all suspect, we’ve established now that he’s not a very good father. Jake heads back to the orphanage but is knocked out and dragged into some caves. He runs from his supposed captors only to find himself in 1943, a bar fight ensues and he’s quickly comes to terms with what’s happened. The people he’s talking to are his grandfathers’ old friends. Emma Bloom (Ella Pornell), who’s lighter than air and needs lead shoes to stay on the ground, Olive Abroholos Elephanta, a pyrokinetic who needs rubber gloves so she doesn’t set everything on fire and Millard Nummings (Cameron King), who’s invisible, except when he’s wearing clothes, be prepared for the jokes regarding that to begin soon.

We’re soon given a proper introduction to Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) who has temporal manipulation powers as well as the ability to transform into a bird. We get a tour of the orphanage and an introduction to other residents. Bronwyn Buntley (Pixie Davies) who has superhuman strength, Hugh Apiston (Milo Parker – Robot Overlords) a boy who has bees in his stomach, Enoch O’Conner (Finlay MacMillan), Fiona Frauenfield (Georgia Pemberton) who can control and manipulate plants, Claire Densmore (Rafiella Chapman), Horace Sumnusson (Hayden Keeler-Stone) and the Twins (Joseph and Thomas Odwell) their powers won’t be revealed till the end of the movie, but they’re both wearing creepy masks.

Miss Peregrine isn’t giving him much in the way of answers, only that Abe stayed in their school until he decided to join the army. Also, these children are in a perpetual time-loop and don’t age, this was set up to avoid persecution which is confusing but ok. I will get back to this. Emma is about to do one of her chores, every day at a particular time a baby squirrel falls out of a tree, it’s up to Emma to put it back. Normally that would require Enoch to hold the rope for her but he’s off doing something else right now, it’s up to Jake to hold a rope, tied around her waist so she can float up into the tree to return the squirrel.

There is a hint of romantic tension between this too which reaches super uncomfortable levels. Remember, they may look the same age, but in truth, she’s the same age as his Grandfather, she’s just stuck because of the time loop. Later Enoch shows his power of creating life out of anything by inserting a heart of some sort into them, he can even raise the dead with it, albeit briefly, he warns that Emma does not seek attachment after she once loved his grandfather. They gang have dinner, with the obvious joke of Jake sitting in the Invisible Kid’s seat that he was sitting in out of the way, we see that Claire has a mouth in the back of her head, which is how she eats.

We then see that Horace can project his dreams, which are sometimes prophetic, it hails dark things to come, including their creepy-ass romance. Anyway, Mrs Peregrine answers a phone-call from Abe from 1943. Fearing for Jake’s safety, she advises he spend the night with them and head out again as morning breaks. Of course, there’s the immediate matter of the bomb about to destroy the house. They all head outside as Mrs Peregrine turns back the clock 24 hours, resetting the loop.

Jake returns home, after stealing one of Mrs Peregrine’s letters, to find his father waiting for him and worried sick, not helped by the death of several sheep on the Island. He insists on them spending the day together and only relents when he passes out drunk in the evening. Jake reads the letter and it’s from Abe, telling him that Mr Barron has found a time loop in Blackpool, and that the Peculiar Miss Esmerelda Avocet should be warned.

With his father passed out, he heads back to the loop, and rushes back to Miss Peregrine, who is nursing a wounded Avocet. She refuses to tell him everything that’s going on for the sake of the other ‘children’ who are only children because of the perpetual time loop and have actually lived a full lifetime by this point. She eventually reveals the backstory of the Hollows, Mr Barron and a bunch of other peculiars were tired of living in hiding and decided to try and become immortal by consuming Ymbrynes, those with powers akin to Miss Peregrine. They experimented with one and rather than granting them immortality it turned them into invisible monsters, Mr Barron and several others regained their humanity by consuming the eyes of peculiars, particularly young ones. OK…

Enoch shows him the body of Victor Bruntley (Louis Davison), before the loop was created, a Hollow appeared on the island and killed Victor. Jake remembers that his eyes of his father were removed, and tells Emma this as they go on a routine morning walk. Wanting more information, Emma takes him to a ship that sunk years ago, her powers allowing her to breathe, and allow Jake to breath underwater and Jake’s superhuman swimming skills able to withstand the pressure at this depth.

Anyway, Abe had sent her photos of the human hollows to Emma and Jake identifies Mr Barron as his attacker. Emma later shows Miss Peregrine confronting the Hollow that was reset by the loop, so if the Loop brought the Hollow back to life, why didn’t it do the same with Victor, or was he already dead by this point? Also, Jake and Emma are watching over the hedge, how Emma manages to not float away given that Jake can’t hold her in his position is anyone’s guess. Around this point it’s also revealed that Jake is Peculiar, otherwise he couldn’t enter the loop, his gift is seeing the Hollows, which are invisible to everyone else

Miss Avocet recovers, telling Miss Peregrine that Mr Barron has taken over her loop in Blackpool and plans to resume the experiment, still wanting immortality. With this information, and the knowledge that Hollows may already be on the Island, resulting in the dead sheep, Miss Peregrine decides it’s time to leave, and they’ll do so in the morning. Not wanting to leave his family, heaven forbid, he heads back to his own time.

They head to the beach the next morning, and a resident of the island is found dead with his eyes removed. With this confirming his worst fears, he runs back to the loop. Frank is unable to keep up, so a bird-watcher named John Lamont (Rupert Everett) heads after him, eventually entering the loop himself and revealing himself to be Mr Barron. He used the disguise of Dr Golan and now Mr Lamont to trick Jake into coming here and revealing the location of the loop. He takes Jake captive

Back at the home, everyone’s packing ready to go as Miss Peregrine answers the door to Mr Barron. He reveals that he was planning to just torture the information out of Abe but another Hollow got to him first. I like that regardless of the threat, Miss Peregrine remains so calm. She knows that even if she wasn’t to surrender to keep Jake alive, the Hollow would arrive and slaughter them all, and Jake is their best defence against them.

Avocet remains in hiding, whilst Mrs Peregrine locks the kids in a room and cages herself. Mr Barron releases Jake because he’s honourable or something. Avocet gets the kids to barricade the room against the Hollows before being killed immediately when the Hollow arrives. Hope you enjoyed the pay-check, Judi Dench. With all the adults gone, the children make a run for it, Jake grabbing the crossbow Avocet was using.

They head to the roof but as it gets dark and no-one’s around to reset the roof, the bomb is about to drop, and they’re right in the blast radius. Thanks to Frauenfield’s abilities, they get clear and the Hollow is killed by the bomb attack. But the loop is now broken permanently, the head to the ship and begin to formulate a plan to rescue Miss Peregrine and stop Mr Barron.

Jake’s transition into a leader is poorly done and heavily rushed. It makes sense that he’d have that responsibility thrust upon him under the circumstances but the ease in which he formulates a plan, that will largely go off without a hitch feels off to me, especially since this was once about him grieving. Speaking of which, because the date of the loop in question marginally predates the death of his Grandfather, killing Dr Barron might save him, yeah, I don’t get that either…

Emma uses her abilities to bring the ship to the surface and they head to Blackpool, heading into the Loop (which is on a Ghost Train ride, which exists in 1943 and still exists in 2016) and into Blackpool 2016, where a guy with a crossbow on his back raises no notice whatsoever because it’s 2016 and no-one notices that kinda stuff. Emma and Jake head to the movie theatre to find a gathering with Mr Barron and several Hollows. They’re perturbed to find that one of their own has been killed except Mr Barron, who was aggravated with his hunger and the time it cost him.

Emma makes a threat to them, leave now or face the consequences. They leave as Barron sends the hollows after them. But the kids have a plan, once they head back to the ghost train, they all begin to throw snowballs, these hit the hollows and make them visible. Combined with some streamers and cotton candy, they become visible enough as Enoch brings out an army of skeletons from the ride, which kill 3 of the 4 hollows and leaves the other in the peer to be important later.

Jake enters the room with the captive Ymbrynes, as Emma uses her super-breath to hold Barron back. Jake eventually figures out how the locks work and rescues the Ymbrynes just as Barron overpowers Emma and storms into the room. Barron has one cruel trick left, and disguises himself as Jake so none of the others know which one is real. Making matters more interesting is the fact that because Barron was Jake’s psychiatrist, he knows lots of personal details that under most circumstances would be the deal-breaker in this kind of scenario.

Help comes in the form of the unvanquished Hallow, which mistakes Barron for Jake and kills him, sucking his eyes out before Jake kills him with the crossbow. Quite a lot of killing in this film, these kids might need therapy. Because this somehow brings Abe back to life, Jake stays in the present whilst the others exit the loop, heading back to 1943. How you can enter a loop from a time before its creation isn’t really explained. But that’s nothing compared to the confusion of what’s coming.

Jake goes to see his now living Grandfather again, not sure how the space-time continuum hasn’t just rolled over and died from all this sh*t. Anyway, Abe convinces him to go back because of Emma, I guess… And gives him a map of all the loops that have been set up, he ends up going through several all at once, and makes it back to them, after spending a year in the Navy because of reasons. And Mrs Peregrine is all better now, but not better enough to join them, just fly along behind them… It was going so well up to this ending.

So that was Mrs Peregrine’s home for Peculiar Children and honestly, despite my usual criticisms of Burton, this is well directed and his visual style fits with the tone this movie seems to be going for. It’s certainly a more fitting adaptation for his directing style than Alice and Wonderland and Dumbo (which will both get reviews at some point).

And despite not really getting a lot to chew on when it comes to emotions, the performances are all fine. Once again the problems of this film fall squarely on the writing. I don’t feel that Jake’s is explored especially well. It’s a classic case of show, don’t tell.

Most of the Peculiars are set-dressing for the plot, with only a few of them displaying much in terms of personality. Having their powers come in the finale felt kinda arbitrary rather than something special with the exception of Enoch’s cool skeleton attack. That said, I like that the battle involved a bit of smart thinking, it’s a pity Mr Barron was not defeated by the heroes.

Speaking on Mr Barron, it’s Samuel L Jackson who makes him memorable. He gives one of his more over the top performances which is fitting for his character’s God Complex. He’s not particularly memorable outside of that though, with his powers rarely being used for any creative fight scenes, and his master plan feeling rather small, although perhaps that’s for the best.

Did I mention that the romance between Jake and Emma feels creepy? She may look his age, but that’s only because of the day resetting thing, she has memories of decades of life.

Rating -75%