MISS PEREGRINE, the home for special children, the latest film by Tim Burton —
Review by Neco Verbis © dibartolocritic —
Tim Burton's film, starring Samuel L. Jackson as the villain and a roster of well-respected actors, including Rupert Everett, Judi Dench and Eva Green as gothic / steam-punk Miss Peregrine, is not a film for children and perhaps not even for boys. Suitable for different age groups, it is not a "light" film. Extremely ambitious in its complexity, it suffers the presence of too many characters and striking events, of a story that is not strictly linear.
Burton's masterpieces were now gone, it was not a question of emulating Harry Potter with his first films (there are many ideas in the script and in the vision), but of creating a film that was between fantasy and horror without frightening too much. The result, however, grants interesting special effects but not excellent and a bit of a story’ cumbersome, which must be followed with spasmodic attention.
This does not favor the film, but what makes it more interesting, instead, are the very accurate visionary setting and the Victorian era atmosphere that you breathe, together with the originality of the inventive matrix, inspired by a little-known novel by a young author.
The fact that the protagonists are "special children" makes it extremely topical; coexistence, tolerance, acceptance of diversity favor it as an educational example, but from a cinematographic point of view it is a failed masterpiece.
Four stars, but not in full…
Neco Verbis © dibartolocritic