Saw this with my daughter and fiance recently at the request of my daughter. She had read the book and enjoyed it so was interested in seeing the adaptation. Despite some minor variations, the film stayed mostly with the plot of the book apparently. Having not read the book, I cannot comment on these differences at this time.
What I can comment on is the apparent phenomenon of adaptations of young adult fiction novels into films. A string of formulaic, dystopian type thrillers came on the heels of The Hunger Games (2012).
The Hunger Games actually does have a redeeming message about class, although by the end it reveals itself to be ever so slightly a reactionary message. The Giver (2014), however, an apparent Hunger Games clone, has an entirely Ayn Randian objectivist message that I don't recall getting from the book when I read it as a teen.
I do remember it being influential on my thinking as an angsty youth who suffered as an individualist beneath the wheel of conformism. I calk it up to youth. Seeing the adaptation of the Giver years later revealed it to me to be a profoundly reactionary, right-wing message. A utopian society where there are no poor, no wars and not crime but there is also not individualism sounds a lot like Cold War anti-Communism in the context of a few years of radical thinking and praxis.
This brings me to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) directed by over-rated "auteur" Tim Burton. First, the plot has the unfortunate odor of blockbuster super-hero type films that have flooded theaters with mediocrity lately. The message appears to be that "peculiar" is "special" and that "special" means that you have super-powers to do things that are what Hume would define as miracles: "a violation of the laws of nature." This is maybe a liberal attempt at teaching that people with disabilities are valuable to society, but fails to convey this message as all the "peculiarities" of the children are supernatural things that are in fact very useful in a number different context. Rather than disabilities they are super-abilities.
Tim Burton follows a string of shitty films including the bastardized remake of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), the incredibly boring Corpse Bride (2005) and the profoundly awful Alice in Wonderland (2010).
Some of Burton's early films including Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Beetlejuice (1988) and Mars Attacks (1996) were rather inspired. However, at this point Tim Burton's aesthetic is tired and run down and his films are commercial, CGI-infused visual spectacles that attempt to make up for lack of good story telling by offering a lot of flashing lights on screen.
Miss Peregrine kept my attention and did have some interesting moments and ideas, but it suffered from the society of the spectacle pathology of CGI obsession and constant action rather than character development and commentary.
Rating: 6/10
What I can comment on is the apparent phenomenon of adaptations of young adult fiction novels into films. A string of formulaic, dystopian type thrillers came on the heels of The Hunger Games (2012).
The Hunger Games actually does have a redeeming message about class, although by the end it reveals itself to be ever so slightly a reactionary message. The Giver (2014), however, an apparent Hunger Games clone, has an entirely Ayn Randian objectivist message that I don't recall getting from the book when I read it as a teen.
I do remember it being influential on my thinking as an angsty youth who suffered as an individualist beneath the wheel of conformism. I calk it up to youth. Seeing the adaptation of the Giver years later revealed it to me to be a profoundly reactionary, right-wing message. A utopian society where there are no poor, no wars and not crime but there is also not individualism sounds a lot like Cold War anti-Communism in the context of a few years of radical thinking and praxis.
This brings me to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) directed by over-rated "auteur" Tim Burton. First, the plot has the unfortunate odor of blockbuster super-hero type films that have flooded theaters with mediocrity lately. The message appears to be that "peculiar" is "special" and that "special" means that you have super-powers to do things that are what Hume would define as miracles: "a violation of the laws of nature." This is maybe a liberal attempt at teaching that people with disabilities are valuable to society, but fails to convey this message as all the "peculiarities" of the children are supernatural things that are in fact very useful in a number different context. Rather than disabilities they are super-abilities.
Tim Burton follows a string of shitty films including the bastardized remake of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), the incredibly boring Corpse Bride (2005) and the profoundly awful Alice in Wonderland (2010).
Some of Burton's early films including Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Beetlejuice (1988) and Mars Attacks (1996) were rather inspired. However, at this point Tim Burton's aesthetic is tired and run down and his films are commercial, CGI-infused visual spectacles that attempt to make up for lack of good story telling by offering a lot of flashing lights on screen.
Miss Peregrine kept my attention and did have some interesting moments and ideas, but it suffered from the society of the spectacle pathology of CGI obsession and constant action rather than character development and commentary.
Rating: 6/10
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