For a week now, Ramson Riggs’s fans do not need to wait anymore to see how the story of the book  “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” was adapted to the big screen by Tim Burton
The cast fits just right to the characters. Samuel L Jackson plays the frustrated villain, that has something of comic – many may say it’s not comparable, but he shows to have a hint of Count Olaf, from The Unfortunate Events. Another personality in the cast is the 81-year-old multi-award winning actress Judi Dench (mainly known from the “007” movies, who is running for best actress at this year’s International Emmy Awards by her performance in “Roald Dahl’s Esio Tro”.
Eva Green, also known for her work in “007”, goes from Bond to Burton to play Alma Peregrine – almost like a version of a whimsical Mary Poppins, without the singing and dancing, though. She received the arduous task of being Tim Burton’s new muse and she delivers the goods. So much so that, pardon the joke, the director didn’t even need to cast Helena Bonham Carter for the part.
Asa Butterfield (“Hugo Cabret” and “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”) is in charge of playing Jack’s role, a reserved 15-year-old-boy with a mysterious expression that was almost getting used to being normal when a revelation changes his life for good.
The motion picture is based on the first book of the young adult novel trilogy written by Ransom Riggs. Inside them, there are bizarre pictures that, at first, seem to have been taken to illustrate the story. But, surprisingly, it’s the other way round. Ramson Riggs found some bizarre photographs and decided to write a whole new world for them.
This is a story about a normal boy that tries to get over his grandfather’s death – the man was his all-time best hero. He always complained about his excessively normal life and used to listen with enthusiasm his grandpa’s bedtime stories full of maritime explorations, monsters and peculiar people with special abilities. When decided to visit the orphanage his grandfather said to be where he grew up – looking for some kind of “closure” advised by his psychiatrist – he saw his life turn upside down. Jack discovers that the world with peculiar creatures and monsters is real and he is a key figure to their future. By the way, the fact that the monsters are after the “different people”can be a metaphore to the Nazis chasing jews, as this part of the story happens in September 3, 1943.
Thereupon, the boy tears his life into Before – the complete boredom – and After, and this segregation is evidently used by Tim Burton as a visual resource. In the beginning of the movie, everything’s normal. Too normal for a Tim Burton production, actually. So much like our real world that it made me doubt Tim Burton could really make a comeback to his burlesque-profile movies – something he hasn’t been successful since “Corpse Bride”, released in 2005.
We only start seeing the director’s fingerprint when Jack gets to know the picturesque way of life of the orphanage and its residents. And that’s where the genius lives. Much more than just grotesque costumes and freakish makeups, he uses credible special effects, stop motion animation and cool colors to give the fantastic world beyond the time travel hole the weight it needs.
Even something as simple as onomatopoeias was meticulously chosen by Tim Burton’s team. When it comes to the scene of the monsters versus the skeletons fight, it gets so ridiculous that the soundtrack allied to the onomatopoeias make it hilarious.
The plot of the book enchants with its originality and even bigger was the surprise with its adaptation to the big screen. Tim Burton delivers the full package and, unlike other movies in his portfolio, this is more of a creepy-bizarre than zany-bizarre production. After 11 years of attempts, he finally makes a movie we can see it and say with all the words “Oh, this is Tim Burton”.