“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”. Much to be desired

Ransom Riggs’ debut novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, feels like a dream project tailor-made for Tim Burton. Misfits, a remote island, mysteries, fantastical characters, and lurking terror in dark alleys — it’s easy to imagine this as a film directed by him. So it’s no surprise that he did, in fact, take it on. Unfortunately, the result leaves much to be desired.

The plot isn’t especially complex. Jake, played by Asa Butterfield, travels to the (fictional) island of Cairnholm in Wales to uncover the truth about his grandfather. As he digs into the past, family secrets begin to emerge. Jake discovers the titular home run by Miss Peregrine — portrayed not by Helena Bonham Carter, though you might think so, but by Eva Green as Alma Peregrine — a home where every child with a unique ability can find their place.

Unfortunately, the backstories of the home’s residents are barely developed — the characters exist simply because they do. The children have their distinctive powers, but no one delves into their psyches — which is a shame, because a six-year-old with superhuman strength would probably have fascinating things to say on a psychiatrist’s couch. The only character with even a hint of depth is Jake himself, introduced at the beginning of the film — but only in brief flashes, short scenes that flit by, some barely lasting a minute. And even this sketch of Jake’s character disappears quickly, as he soon boards a ship with his father bound for Wales. The father vanishes from the narrative shortly after and doesn’t reappear.

The fictional world has a lot of potential that could’ve been explored more compellingly — the characters’ strange powers, their mysterious pasts, Grandpa Abe’s wartime stories… But all of this is brushed past, used merely as backdrop, a superficial excuse for the events.

Which is a real shame, because it’s precisely the deeper exploration of a made-up world that creates a truly engaging story — not breakneck action.

On top of that, Miss Peregrine’s Home… includes scenes that even within its twisted reality stretch the limits of believability — like the trailer moment where a character expels water from a flooded submarine chamber using only the air in her lungs.

And then there are the clichés — one after another. The hypersensitive teen with issues (yawn). Family secrets (yawn). Teenage romance and coming-of-age woes (yawn). Mysteries, hidden doors, cryptic silences (triple yawn). And so on, and so forth. The problem isn’t that it’s hard to come up with something fresh and original nowadays — it’s that familiar ideas can still be presented in an interesting way. Miss Peregrine’s Home… shows no such ambition. Partly because the world-building is underdeveloped, but also because the film lacks humor and breathtaking visuals. It’s clear the writers tried to inject some comedy, but the jokes rarely rise above mediocre. The cinematography doesn’t help either — the visuals are not memorable, don’t build atmosphere. At best, it’s a decently composed image — but ultimately flat and forgettable.

It’s hard to shake the feeling that Tim Burton didn’t quite know what he wanted to make. He was adapting a novel, so he had to stay within its boundaries; but for those who read the book, the script’s shortcuts might be obvious, while to newcomers, some scenes will seem strange or disjointed. The director adds a bit of his own flavor: some horror elements, a dash of black humor, a few nods and references. Miss Peregrine feels like Sherlock Holmes in a gothic dress, the blonde Emma is strikingly reminiscent of Mia Wasikowska’s Alice in Wonderland, the film occasionally morphs into Pirates of the Caribbean, and with enough effort, you could even spot Titanic references. There are also blatant nods to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.

There’s a lack of balance between character development, atmosphere, and narrative drive. The director also didn’t seem certain who his audience was. Younger viewers may be haunted by the monsters and macabre scenes, while adults will likely predict the entire plot within five minutes. All of this makes Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children feel like a collection of oddities — just not one where all the pieces find their proper place.