By David Wilfong, NDG Special Contributor
Hollywood has made a mint from chunking British kids through magical portals into alternate universes as of late.
In the Harry Potter series, young magicians find their way to Hogwarts through a train station wall. In The Chronicles of Narnia, the pathway to magic land is through an old stand-up closet.
This time it’s an American kid that gets to make the trip, but in order to do so he has to go hang out with some British kids. And this time it is being conjured up by the spooky genius of Tim Burton. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is the screen adaptation of a popular novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs.
The storyline plays on the idea of an alternate, supernatural universe that exists almost right in front of us. Through the use of “loops,” time can be literally brought to a standstill, much the same way as Bill Murray experienced in Groundhog Day.
In this case, a tragic family event which authorities play off as “natural occurrences” leads Jake (Asa Butterfield) on a quest to carry out cryptic instructions left by his late grandfather. In the process he finds himself in a world he cannot explain and must adapt quickly. He also learns that he is not quite as normal himself as he originally thought he was.
The film is visually stunning, and the hand of Tim Burton in the making is unmistakeable. The story is imaginative with a touch of campy, and the lead actors give a good enough performance to make this film worth the ticket price.
