MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN (2016)

1/15/2017 - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016) - 4+/5-/10

Early on, a nice attempt at Burtonian dark bizarrity but it stalls out, cowering into a standard & safe preteen action fantasy drama. It crammed so much into this film, but to the extent of neutering the grandiose and timeless nature of these characters, their interesting world and their supposedly deadly dramas. It is there and does its job, better than some recent Burton attempts, but does it really matter when they don't really bring anything of true value to the table?

Can't say that any of the actors do much of note. Sam Jackson's jokes are dishearteningly tedious. Those eyes that he and his brethren have are awful.

The ambiance hints at cool, but never delivers. There are hollow characters and rampant predictability. It gets the generic love draping, solely because the plot needs the added "intrigue". The Slenderman inspired nightmare creatures are neat, as is the general idea of the tale, but overall it misses the mark. Not too far, delivering a standard familial entertainment vehicle, but a miss none-the-less.