After just 30 minutes of the film, you can tell what the producers of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children were thinking when they decided to make a live-action film out of Ransom Rigg’s bestseller novel. Here is a film that basically takes much of what made Harry Potter and X-Men such lucrative franchises and mashes them together in one package.

Boy with untapped power surviving a family tragedy? Check. A home for the gifted … err … peculiar? Check. Magic and/or superpowers? Check. Trippy soundtrack? Check. Fantastical creatures? Check. Evil powerful villains with powers of their own? Check. Ending that sets up the film for sequels? Check.

Yes, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is certainly not one of the most original films around, but it could have still been a watchable film had it not been for the uninspired work by its director.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is certainly not one of the most original films around, but it could have still been a watchable film had it not been for the uninspired work by its director Tim Burton

There was a time when Tim Burton was the hottest director in Hollywood. After making Beetlejuice (1988) and Batman (1989), he directed classics such as Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992) and Ed Wood (1994). Since then, his work has been a bit of a mixed bag. For every Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) or Frankenweenie (2012) there have been a number of forgettable and underwhelming films. Unfortunately, this is one of Burton’s more mediocre works.

The film’s main shortcoming is in its characterisation. None of the characters are particularly interesting to watch, and generate very little emotional investment. This is particularly true for the lead character, Jacob ‘Jake’ Portman (Asa Butterfield), who is not only a loner in the film, but comes across as a real loser. Jacob, of course, has a grandfather, Abraham ‘Abe’ Portman (Terence Stamp) who claims that he fought monsters in his own childhood at a home run by a Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine (Eva Green).

The film’s main shortcoming is in its characterisation. None of the characters are particularly interesting to watch, and generate very little emotional investment. This is particularly true for the lead character, Jacob ‘Jake’ Portman (Asa Butterfield).

One fine day, Jacob gets a distress call from his grandfather, and rushes to his house to find him nearly dead in the backyard and missing his eyes. Before passing away, he leaves his grandson with a cryptic clue.

Soon, a psychiatrist named Dr Golan (Allison Janney) tries to convince Jake that he has been hallucinating, but Jake is not so sure. Later, his Aunt Susie (Jennifer Jarackas) gives him a gift. It is a book that once belonged to his grandfather. In it, he finds evidence of his own sanity, and alongside his father Franklin (Chris O’Dowd) travels to a remote island in Wales to look for Miss Peregrine and her home for peculiar children.

While this seems like an interesting story on paper, sadly, Burton seems to have little interest in storytelling. Perhaps it is the consequence of the green screen, but the actors are strangely subdued in most scenes, as if they learned their craft after watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Where Burton excels in even his poorest films is in the visuals and set design. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is certainly a wonderful looking film, with highly imaginative whimsical looking creatures. What’s more, the action-packed finale is quite entertaining. Sadly, the film’s gorgeous style isn’t grand enough to make up for its lack of substance.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of fantasy action/violence and peril

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 16th, 2016