Review of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Series

One of the most interesting and unique books I have read recently is the “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” series. There were six books in the series

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Miss_Peregrine_Film_Poster.jpg

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935859/mediaindex

A sequel, titled Hollow City, was released on January 14, 2014.^[13] The novel is set immediately after the first and sees Jacob and his friends fleeing from Miss Peregrines to the “peculiar capital of the world”, London.^[14]

The third installment in Miss Peregrine’s series, titled Library of Souls, was announced in early 2015.^[15] It was released on September 22, 2015.^[15]

A Map of Days, the first installment of a new trilogy set in the United States and featuring the main protagonists from the original trilogy, was released on October 2, 2018, by Dutton Books for Young Readers (a division of Penguin Group).^[16]

On January 14, 2020, the fifth installment, The Conference of the Birds, was released.

On February 23, 2021, the sixth and final book of the second trilogy, The Desolations of Devil’s Acre, was released.

And there was a movie version, with Samuel L Jackson as the main villain.

The books all follow a similar pattern. Old fake photos are interspersed throughout the books illustrating key people and events.

The original idea was to write a children’s book featuring the old photos and the story that photos told.

The series is somewhat like the Harry Potter series, a young man discovers a secret hidden world that he is a part of and he is destined for great things. The series unfolds as a grand battle between good and evil with the future of not only the peculiar world at fate but the entire world. It is also somewhat like the X files. Mutant children are hidden away at boarding schools hidden in time loops to protect them from prosecution in the larger world. The leaders of the peculiar world are women who are also part birds.

The main villain, Caul, is the sister of the main Ymbryn bird lady, Alma Peregrine. He intends to enslave all of pecurliardom and then enslave the normal as well. Her wards play a decisive role in the eventual defeat of Cual and his army of wrights, and hollogasts – who are terrifying creatures both in the book and in the movie.

How they defeat them I will leave the reader to read about as I don’t want to spoil the book or movie.

I disagree with the critics of the movie. The average rating was 3 out of 4, I might give it a 4 out of 4. The movie version is pretty close to the book and is one of the better adaptations of a book I have seen. I hope they make a sequel.

All in all, one of the most original, inventive, and yes terrifying young adult SF horror series I have read in years.

Wiki details follow

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

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For the film based on the novel, see Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (film).

*Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children*
Cover photograph courtesy of Yefim Tobias
Author	Ransom Riggs
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Young adult literature, fantasy
Publisher	Quirk Books
Published in English	June 7, 2011
Media type	Print, e-book, audiobook
Pages	352 pp.
ISBN	978-1-59474-476-1
OCLC	664668604
Followed by	Hollow City

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archives of collectors listed by the author.

This young adult book was originally intended to be a picture book featuring photographs Riggs had collected, but on the advice of an editor at Quirk Books, he used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative.^[1]^[2] Riggs was a collector of photographs but needed more for his novel. He met Leonard Lightfoot, a well-known collector at the Rose Bowl Flea Market, and was introduced to other collectors.^[3] The result was a story about a boy who follows clues from his grandfather’s old photographs, tales, and his grandfather’s last words which lead him on an adventure that takes him to a large abandoned orphanage on Cairnholm, a fictional Welsh island.^[2]

The book has been a New York Times bestseller.^[1]^[4] It reached the #1 spot on the Children’s Chapter Books list on April 29, 2012, after being on the list for 45 weeks,^[5] remaining there until May 20, when it dropped to the fourth spot on the list.^[6]^[7]^[8] Critics have generally praised the book for the creative use of vintage photographs in the sepia style and surrealist form, as well as good characterization and settings.

Plot[edit]

As a child, Jacob Magellan Portman has been fascinated with his grandfather Abraham’s stories about surviving as a Jew during World War II, running from man-eating monsters, and living with peculiar children in a secret home guarded by “a wise old bird”. As Jacob grows older, he begins to doubt the stories until the arrival of his grandfather’s death. Blood-strewn, exhausted, and lying in his back garden on the outskirts of Florida Woods, Abraham’s last words are a mystery: “…find the bird in the loop on the other side of the old man’s grave on September 3, 1940, and tell them what happened.” As his grandfather dies, Jacob catches sight of a horrific monster just like the ones described in Abraham’s stories. Soon, he starts experiencing trauma and being plagued with nightmares relating to those monsters. Believing their son to be going crazy, Jacob’s parents take him to Dr. Golan, a psychiatrist, who suggests that Jacob go to Cairnholm, Wales, the location of his grandfather’s children’s home to confront the place of his trauma. On his own, Jacob locates and explores the old house only to find it empty and everything caked in dust. According to the local people, the place is haunted and a bomb had killed all its inhabitants many years ago, on September 3, 1940.

Sensing a connection, Jacob refuses to give up and returns to the house one more time, where he encounters a mysterious girl who can conjure fire with her hands whom he follows, trying to question her after hearing her call out his grandfather’s name. They reach the bogs surrounding the house before Jacob realizes that the people of Cairnholm are different, including the patrons at the inn and his father isn’t there. Luckily, a confused Jacob is rescued by the girl from before and an invisible boy, who introduce themselves as Emma Bloom and Millard Nulling’s respectively. A suspicious Emma holds him captive and brings him to the children’s home, where he finds it magically transformed to the paradise of his grandfather’s stories, complete with the peculiar children and the “wise old bird”, who is, in fact, the headmistress Miss Alma LeMay Peregrine (named after that well-known raptorial bird of prey the peregrine falcon).

There Jacob is also introduced to other peculiar children apart from Emma and Millard: Bronwyn Bruntley, a girl with incredible strength, Claire Densmore, a little girl with an extra mouth at the back of her head, Olive Abroholos Elephanta, a little girl who can levitate, Enoch O’Connor, a boy who can animate non-living things for a short amount of time by transplanting organs, Hugh Apiston, a boy with bees living in his stomach, Fiona Frauenfeld, a girl with an affinity for growing plants, and Horace Somnusson, a boy with prophetic dreams. Jacob is shocked and befuddled by the state of the place, so Olive and Millard explain that they are currently existing in a time loop, a place where time is constantly reversed and where they all relive the same day every day, September 3, 1940. This is all thanks to Miss Peregrine, a special type of peculiar being known as a ymbryne, one who can shapeshift into birds (namely a peregrine falcon after which she is named) and manipulate time. Apart from keeping them alive (if not the bomb would have killed them), this time loop also protects the peculiar children from being hunted by hollowgast — humanoid, tentacle-mouthed creatures that devour peculiars. That experiment occurred in the Siberian tundra, which was marked by a cataclysmic explosion, and from there the hollowgast was born. In addition to hollowgast being a threat, hollows who have consumed enough peculiars are evolved into wights, beings who resemble humans in every aspect save their eyes, which have no pupils. These wights’ ultimate goal is to gain power from the peculiars, as well as morph every one of their fellow hollowgast into wights that will rule the world.

Soon, Miss Peregrine’s former mentor Miss Avocet arrives at the loop mad with grief over the kidnapping of her wards to wights, who have executed their plan of raiding loops. Fearing for the children’s safety, Jacob is tasked with the job of reporting any suspicious information going on in the outside world. With his comings and goings, Jacob and Emma begin to develop feelings for each other, as well as get a glimpse into his peculiar self: he can see the hollows while other peculiars can’t, just like his grandfather. Miss Peregrine’s fears are confirmed when eyeless sheep bodies begin to pile up, and Martin, a worker in the Cairnholm Local Museum, is killed. Going against Miss Peregrine’s orders to not leave the house, Enoch, Bronwyn, Emma, Jacob, and Millard escape, and Enoch uses a sheep heart to briefly bring Martin back to life. Martin manages to inform the group of the presence of a wight on the island, but by then it is too late as one appears right behind them along with a hollow companion. To Jacob’s shock, he reveals himself to be Dr. Golan, as well as Jacob’s family’s hired lawn gardener, and Jacob’s middle school bus driver. Jacob refuses Golan’s offer to join him in finding peculiars and decides to stay with his friends. Golan sends his hollow after the group, and Emma and Jacob split up from the rest. After a brief scuffle, Jacob kills it with a pair of sheep shears. They make their way back to the orphanage, but discover that Golan has kidnapped Miss Peregrine and Miss Avocet and locked the rest of the children in the house.

Dr. Golan warns them not to attempt to rescue Miss Peregrine and leaves the loop, but Millard manages to sneak out invisibly and follow him. Jacob and his friends follow Millard’s tracks and find Golan near a lighthouse trying to catch a boat with his other wight comrades. During the process of saving Miss Peregrine, who is trapped in her bird form, Millard is wounded from a gunshot, but Golan is ultimately killed by Jacob. Just then, the other wights arrive and even though they can rescue Miss Peregrine, Miss Avocet is taken away. Returning to the orphanage, they find it destroyed, leaving them having to track down the wights and discover how to help Miss Peregrine. It is then Jacob decides to follow his friends and returns to the present to say goodbye to his father, but promises to return when his mission is finished. Guided by only a prophetic dream from Horace, they set sail to find help.

Peculiardom[edit]

Peculiars[edit]

Otherwise known as synergist (a word meaning “peculiar spirit” in the Old Peculiar language, which is, in turn, the author’s adaptation of Old English, or Anglo-Saxon language), peculiar folk are a branch of humanity possessing a second soul which manifests itself in strange ways such as abnormal characteristics and abilities commonly referred to as peculiarities. Very rarely are peculiar children born to peculiar parents as the essence or gene of peculiarity often skips entire generations, making peculiar populations vastly less than that normal people.

Ymbrynes[edit]

A ymbryne (pronounced IMM-brinn) is a specific kind of female peculiar who can transform into distinct birds, control and manipulate time as she sees fit, and govern the peculiar world. Most essentially, the ability to control time lets these women possess a period of historical time by looping it, creating a potentially eternal sanctuary for peculiars. They often set out into the present-day world to rescue peculiars in dire situations or to search for those without a ymbryne. Ymbryne means “revolution” or “circuit” in Old Peculiar.

Council of Ymbrynes[edit]

The Council of Ymbrynes is the official government and law of peculiardom. Their responsibilities include the maintenance of loop order, the writing or amending of laws regularly, and the determination of sentences for those convicted of a crime. Members are not specified.

Time loops[edit]

Time loops are the fabric of the peculiar world, often referred to as peculiardom. Similar to towns, cities, states, and countries, they act as specific locations. Together they create a vast and quite complex world of varying whereabouts and dates only peculiars can enter. Within these loops, peculiars live indefinitely without aging or reliving previous experiences, even as the day around them repeats itself. While it may appear to be a form of eternal youth, it is the suspension of time inevitable. In reality, many, if not all, of Miss Peregrine’s children are over fifty years old, but the loop detains them as teenagers and small children physically and mentally. A loop must be reset daily or it will collapse, leaving all peculiars within it exposed to the outside world.

Aging forward[edit]

As a result of time loops, those who reside in them may not be able to return to the present day, depending on how long they’ve been there. In a mere matter of hours outside of the loop, the amount of time evaded will catch up. An example of this is Miss Peregrine’s former ward, a young girl named Charlotte who left the loop while Miss Peregrine was away. She was discovered by police in the mid-1980s and sent to a welfare agency. When Miss Peregrine found her just two days later, she’d already aged thirty-five years. Although she survived the ordeal, the unnatural aging process had caused Charlotte a great deal of mental disorder, and she was sent to live with Miss Nightjar, a ymbryne more suited for her care. The same process of deterioration applies to anything taken out of time loops as another instance was an apple Jacob took back to the inn where he and his father were staying in the present day. He left it on the nightstand next to his bed as he fell asleep that night, but by morning, found it had rotted to the point of disintegrating.

Hollowgast[edit]

A word meaning “empty spirit”. The hollowgast are monsters who feed on peculiars. They were created by a freak accident in an unethical and illegal experiment conducted by Miss Peregrine’s two brothers. Hundreds had joined their cause, and with the aid of misguided but powerful ymbrynes, it was intended to achieve immortality without the limitations of time loops. Instead, it led to a catastrophic collapse that destroyed half of Siberia where the experiment took place. Everyone involved was presumed dead, but their corpses became deformed and crawled back to a lesser, animalistic state of life. Apart from their shadows, hollows are invisible to all but a gifted few including Abraham and Jacob Portman. They are also identified by the groups of large tentacle-like tongues that occupy their grotesquely stretched mouths. It is speculated that this outcome was the result of being reverse-aged to a time before their souls existed, thus the word hollowgast. Their souls having been erased, hollows possess no form of peculiarity, rendering them unable to enter time loops.

Wights[edit]

If a hollow consumes enough peculiar souls, its original human form is restored, except irises and pupils leaving the eyes entirely white. Because of this, peculiars refer to these evolved creatures as wights. They possess no extraordinary abilities but are highly skilled in posing as normal people under multiple identities and can even pass into time loops. Much of their existence revolves around procuring peculiars for remaining hollows to devour. Once they set their eyes on a peculiar child, they will follow them around, as they did with Jacob to the island.

Characters[edit]

Peculiar children[edit]

Jacob Magellan Portman— A 16-year-old American teenager and the protagonist of the story. Jacob becomes subject to acute stress reaction after witnessing his grandfather’s death and claiming that a monster from his grandfather’s childhood stories had killed him. Everyone he knows begins to consider him crazy and avoids him. His parents eventually take him to see a psychiatrist, on whose instruction Jacob’s dad takes him on a trip to the Welsh island where his grandfather grew up. There, Jacob discovers that the stories of a magical orphanage and both peculiar children and the monster are real. He also learns that the ability to see these monsters is an extremely rare peculiarity as they are invisible to all but a few like himself.
Abraham Portman— Abraham was Jacob’s grandfather who also had the peculiarity of seeing the monsters. He left Miss Peregrine’s loop as a young man to join both the war against Germany and the war against the hollowgast, promising to make a home in America for his fellow peculiars. But having started a family of his own during his time in the normal world, he never went back for them. Despite this, he was still pressured into eradicating hollows, resulting in long, frequent hunting trips away from his wife and two children, a secret which they took as careless neglect. Over the years, Abraham became a near-stranger to everyone he knew and, in his old age, was killed by one of the very monsters he had fought so valiantly to defeat. Police simply concluded that dementia and an attack by wild animals were the cause of his death.
Emma Bloom— Emma is a teenager under Miss Peregrine’s care. Her peculiarity manifested in her hands when she was ten years old. They began to glow red, becoming painfully hot to the point of generating fire. Emma had a romantic relationship with Abraham which they maintained even as he went to war until he stopped responding to her letters. After years without replying, Abraham finally wrote her back simply to tell her he could no longer do so because he’d married another woman. Emma became heartbroken and bitter but still mourned him upon learning of his death when his grandson Jacob arrived in Miss Peregrine’s time loop. Although she treated Jacob harshly at first, their mutual sorrow for Abraham started a deeply sincere relationship between them.
Millard Nullings— Millard is a young adolescent possessing the peculiarity of invisibility which is said to be quite uncommon. He chooses to go about nude to stay fully invisible but wears clothes at supper on Miss Peregrine’s orders. He is also exceptionally well-versed in all things peculiar and, as a hobby, spends much of his time documenting every little detail of the day they live in.
Bronwyn Bruntley— A young adolescent possessing super-human strength, Bronwyn is also kindhearted and a loyal friend. She respects and obeys Miss Peregrine more than her fellow wards do, often correcting them and citing rules they’re meant to follow, mostly in fear of anyone getting in trouble. The only occasions for which she refuses to cooperate are when she is made to dress lady-like. Before Miss Peregrine took her and her older brother Victor in, Bronwyn discovered her strength at the age of ten when she snapped their abusive stepfather’s neck without actually meaning to.
Enoch O’Connor— A young adolescent with the ability to resurrect the dead and bring inanimate objects to life for a limited time by using the extracted organs of other living things. Enoch was born to a family of undertakers and, before moving into time loops, caused tremendous confusion by frequently bringing the dead to life at his father’s funeral parlor. He is the least liked of Miss Peregrine’s wards as the others are put off by his selfish behavior, negative thinking, and obsession with violence. His previous ymbryne was never specified, nor were his reasons for relocating to Miss Peregrine’s loop.
Olive Abroholos Elephanta— Olive is the second youngest to Claire and comes across as quite giddy and openly friendly. Her peculiarity renders her lighter than air, making her float freely like a balloon. She has barely any control over it and must always be weighed down or bound to something to keep from floating away. Her most routine means is a pair of heavy leaden shoes.
Hugh Apiston— Hugh is a teenager with bees living in his stomach. His peculiarity allows him to communicate with them and command them. He is in love with Fiona.
Horace Somnusson— Horace is a young adolescent capable of having prophetic dreams, albeit very scarcely. They occur most often as nightmares of events so horrifying, they tend to throw him into bouts of shock. He can be quite a snob and is an extremely passionate follower of fashion, commonly seen in a suit and tie with a top hat and monocle.
Fiona Frauenfeld— Fiona is a teenager possessing power over plants. Her peculiarity allows her to manipulate their life and growth and control their movements. She speaks with a thick Irish accent, though she rarely speaks at all, and has a romantic, symbiotic relationship with Hugh.
Claire Densmore— The youngest of all Miss Peregrine’s wards, Claire also possesses the most grotesque peculiarity in their midst: a second mouth in the back of her head with sharp teeth, hidden beneath her blonde curls. She is typically cheerful but becomes shy and self-conscious when made to dine with others.
Victor Bruntley— Miss Peregrine once had many more peculiars under her care, many of whom were killed by the hollowgast, including Bronwyn’s older brother Victor. Like Bronwyn, Victor possessed immense physical strength. He left during the loop’s early days, claiming he couldn’t stand being trapped there; it was a reckless decision that led to his demise. Until his burial when the loop closed, his lifeless body had remained at Miss Peregrine’s home, locked away in his bedroom and neatly laid to rest in bed. Some of the children would occasionally sneak in and have Enoch resurrect him, though he always seemed to be in a rush to get back to the afterlife.
The Twins— The Twins appear as two short children, wearing sacks on their heads that have holes for the eyes, however without their masks, they have pale gray, scaly skin with gray serpentine eyes and fangs. Not much is known about Twin’s personalities, besides the fact that they are shy and quiet because they do not speak to anyone besides each other. Not too much is known about their peculiarity, but in the movie, they were capable of turning a Wight into stone with just a glare, similar to Medusa in Greek Mythology. It was believed in the book they had a telepathic bond.

Ymbrynes[edit]

All ymbrynes take on last names which correspond to the type of bird into which they can shapeshift (e.g., Miss Peregrine can turn into a peregrine falcon).

Alma LeFay Peregrine— Miss Peregrine is a highly skilled ymbryne and the headmistress of her children’s-home. She is a delicate woman who enjoys smoking a pipe and adores her charges, though she can be strict at times. At a very young age, she learned to hone her peculiarity as a student under Miss Avocet. Miss Peregrine’s loop is located on the fictional island of Cairnholm, Wales, on September 3, 1940, though it’s September 2 for the first few hours.
Esmerelda Avocet— Miss Avocet is an elderly and wise woman from the mid-Victorian period in England. Having taught most notable ymbrynes to master their craft, she is regarded as near-royalty. Her loop is in Derbyshire on July 15, 1867, but it was invaded by wights and hollowgast, forcing her to flee to Miss Peregrine’s loop.
Miss Nightjar— Miss Nightjar takes in difficult cases of peculiars. One such case being Miss Peregrine’s former ward, Charlotte. Miss Nightjar’s loop is in Swansea, Wales on April 3, 1901, and is co-run by Miss Thrush.
Miss Finch— Miss Finch has an aunt who is also a ymbryne but prefers to stay in finch Their loop is based in London, but the date is not stated.
Millicent Thrush— Miss Thrush has a loop in London and is headmistress of a children’s home there but also co-runs Miss Nightjar’s special-care home.
Miss Kestrel— Possibly a rather historical ymbryne. Enoch mentions an old story of her being injured in a road accident. The incident is said to have trapped her in the form of a kestrel for an entire week, leading to the collapse of her loop before she healed. Location and date are not stated.
Balenciaga Wren— Miss Wren is the headmistress of a menagerie for peculiar animals. Her loop is based in mainland Wales in a much older, unknown time.
Miss Gannett— Miss Gannett has a loop in Ireland, in June of 1770.
Miss Treecreeper— Miss Peregrine mentions her name but doesn’t remember where or when her loop is based.

Non-peculiars[edit]

Franklin Portman— Jacob’s father, Frank, is an unemployed, amateur ornithologist who volunteers at a bird rescue and likes to pass it off as his job. He also spends much of his time writing manuscripts for nature books, though he’s never completed one, giving up on his every project midway. His whole life, he’s had a rather rough relationship with his father, Abraham, as he was rarely around. Frank is very protective of his son but understands his need for room to grow and learn on his own.
Maryann Portman— Maryann is Jacob’s obsessively materialistic mother and Franklin’s wife. She comes from a wealthy family that owns a drugstore company with one hundred and fifteen branches across the state of Florida. While she loves her son and is immensely protective of him, she tends to be more concerned about public image and what people think of them.
Golan— Dr. Golan was one of the many peculiars who supported and participated in the disastrous experiment that created the hollowgast. He is among those who have reached the state of being a wight, a term he disowns as “their word.” He is a licensed psychiatrist and, to uncover information on Miss Peregrine’s loop, has been stalking the Portman family for years under many a guise including their yardman, Jacob’s middle school bus driver Mr. Barron, and ultimately himself when Jacob begins seeing him for therapy.
Malthus— Malthus was once a peculiar and an old friend of Dr. Golan’s who also joined the rebellion against the ymbrynes, dying by the results of the experiment designed to overthrow them and reemerging a hollow. He now travels with the restored Golan, devouring peculiars as they discover time loops. For reasons not specified, Golan allowed him to kill Abraham before they could learn the location of Miss Peregrine’s loop. From then on, Malthus haunted Jacob, keeping a vigil on him day and night.
Martin Pagett— Martin is a part-time but knowledgeable and well-spoken curator of a small museum on Cairnholm, though due to the island’s sparse renown and low tourist appeal, they rarely see any patronage. He strikes up a bond with Jacob, giving him a rundown of Cairnholm’s s history and assisting him in learning how the children’s home was destroyed. Martin plays an unwitting but vital role in discovering Malthus and Dr. Golan on the island.
Oggie— Oggie is Martin’s uncle, whom he introduces to Jacob to help him learn more about the fallen children’s home. Elderly and gruff but still sharp of wit, Oggie recalls the strange children and their reclusive headmistress and recounts the bombing in detail, occasionally veering off into rants on the weather and politics. Though he longed to fight for his country, he was too young then and merely watched it all take place.
Susan Portman— Susan is Frank’s younger sister and Jacob’s aunt. While going through Abraham’s possessions with them after his passing, she found his copy of The Selected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson and that he had written a brief well-wish to Jacob on the title page. When she gives it to him on his birthday, Jacob unwittingly discovers a letter from Miss Peregrine when it fell out from between the pages.
Ricky— Ricky is described as Jacob’s best and only friend, though their relationship is more of a deal for personal benefit: in exchange for Jacob helping Ricky with his homework, Ricky acts as Jacob’s bodyguard at school.

Reception[edit]

Miss Peregrine’s spent seventy weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list for children’s chapter books. It reached the number one spot on the list on April 29, 2012, after being on the list for forty-five weeks.^[5] It remained there until 20 May, when it dropped to the fourth spot on the list.^[6]^[7]^[8] The book dropped off the list on September 9, 2012, after sixty-three weeks.^[9]^[10]

According to Deborah Netburn for the Los Angeles Times, the best part of the novel is “a series of black-and-white photos sprinkled throughout the book”.^[11] Publishers Weekly called the book “an enjoyable, eccentric read distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.”^[12]

Sequels[edit]

The third installment in Miss Peregrine’s series, titled Library of Souls, was announced in early 2015.^[15] It was released on September 22, 2015.^[15]

On January 14, 2020, the fifth installment, The Conference of the Birds, was released.

On February 23, 2021, the sixth and final book of the second trilogy, The Desolations of Devil’s Acre, was released.

Adaptations[edit]

Graphic novel[edit]

An original graphic novel adaptation by Cassandra Jean and Ransom Riggs called Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel was released in October 2013.^[17]

Film[edit]

Main article: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (film)

A film adaptation of the book was released in the United States on September 30, 2016. It was directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by Jane Goldman.^[18] Eva Green played Miss Peregrine in the film, along with Asa Butterfield as Jacob,^[19] and Ella Purnell as Emma Bloom.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculair Children, directed by Tim Burton and written by Jane Goldman, based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Ransom Riggs. The film stars Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Filming began in February 2015 in London and the Tampa Bay Area. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, on September 25, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 30, 2016, by 20th Century Fox.^[5] It received mixed reviews and grossed $296 million worldwide against a production budget of $110 million.

Plot[edit]

Abe Portman has told stories to his grandson Jake about battling monsters and spending his childhood at “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” at Cairnholm, an island off the coast of Wales. The home’s children and their headmistress, Miss Alma Peregrine, possess paranormal abilities and are known as “Peculiars”. One day, Jake finds Abe dying with his eyes removed, and he tells Jake to go to “the loop of September 3, 1943”.

Following advice from Dr. Golan, Jake travels to the United Kingdom to go to Cairnholm with his father Frank to investigate the children’s home, learning that it was destroyed during a Luftwaffe raid. Upon entering the ruins, Jake finds children from Abe’s stories. They take him through a portal and he emerges in the year 1943 when the house was still intact. Miss Peregrine greets him and explains that she belongs to a class of female Peculiars named “Ymbrynes”, who can transform into birds (in Miss Peregrine’s case, a peregrine falcon) and manipulate time. To avoid persecution for being Peculiars, she and her children hide from the outside world in a time loop she created, accessible only to Peculiars and set to September 3, 1943, allowing them to live the same day repeatedly and avoid aging as long as they stay inside it.

Jake is introduced to the rest of the children, including aerokinetic Emma Bloom, who he is attracted to. Jake learns he is also a Peculiar like his grandfather and can see the invisible monsters from Abe’s stories, which are called “Hollowgasts” (or “Hollows”). They are disfigured Peculiar scientists who killed a Ymbryne in a failed experiment to harvest her powers trying to achieve immortality. Led by shapeshifter Mr. Barron, they hunt Peculiars to consume their eyeballs, which allow them to regain visibly human form, but with milky-white eyes, named “Wights”.

A wounded Ymbryne named Miss Avocet arrives, explaining Barron assaulted her in the January 2016 time loop at Blackpool, England, killing her children, and is trying to repeat the failed experiment using more Ymbrynes. Miss Peregrine prepares to move out with her children and Miss Avocet, after learning from Jake that a Hollow may be on the island in the present after sheep were killed. Jake returns to 2016, but finding an elderly man killed by the Hollow, he goes back to the portal to warn them the Hollow is near. However, he is followed by another visitor on the island, an ornithologist who is Mr. Barron.

Barron had tried to extract the location of Ms. Peregrine’s loop from Abe, but he’s hungry Hollow companion, Mr. Malthus (the one on the island), killed Abe before he could do so. He then posed as Dr. Golan, encouraging Jake to go to the island so he could lead him to the loop. Using Jake as a hostage at the children’s home, Barron forces Miss Peregrine to trap herself in bird form and takes her to Blackpool, leaving Jake, the other children, and Miss Avocet as prey for Malthus.

Malthus arrives and kills Miss Avocet, but Jake and the children escape just as the Luftwaffe raid destroys the house, killing Malthus. Without Miss Peregrine to reset it, the loop closes, leaving them stuck in 1943. Rescuing a sunken ocean liner, they travel to Blackpool and enter its January 2016 loop, fight Barron’s Wight and Hollow allies, and rescue Miss Peregrine and other captive Ymbrynes. Barron disguises himself as Jake, hoping to confuse the children who have come to finish him off. But when the last remaining Hollow arrives, Jake can see and avoid it. The Hollow kills Barron and is in turn killed by Jake.

Before the time loop closes, Jake says goodbye to the children as they exit and return to their ship in 1943 while he stays in 2016, travels to Florida, and relates his adventures to Abe, who is alive and well: Barron’s death at the beginning of 2016 erased his presence in Florida later on. Abe gives Jake a map of international time loops, allowing Jake to reunite with his friends and Emma in 1943. They declare their feelings for each other and kiss. The children and Miss Peregrine sail their ship, seeking a happy time loop.

Cast[edit]

Peculiars[edit]

Peculiar adults[edit]

Eva Greenas Miss Alma LeFay Peregrine, the strict but clever and caring Ymbryne headmistress of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children who can transform into a peregrine falcon and manipulate time^[6]
Terence Stampas Abe Portman, Jake’s grandfather who can see the invisible Hollows
- Callum Wilson as young Abe^[7]^[8]
Judi Denchas Miss Esmeralda Avocet, the Ymbryne headmistress of another shelter for Peculiar Children in Blackpool. Like Miss Peregrine, Miss Avocet can manipulate time; she can transform into an avocet.

Peculiar children[edit]

Asa Butterfieldas Jake Portman, a 16-year-old American teenager, and Abe’s grandson. He visits Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and is given, by Miss Peregrine, the task/promise of protecting the children. Like his grandfather, Jake can see the invisible Hollows.
- Butterfield also portrays Mr. Barron’s disguised as Jake^[9]
- Aiden Flowersas 10-year-old Jake
- Nicholas Oteri as 6-year-old Jake
Ella Purnellas Emma Bloom, an aerokinetic teenager who can manipulate air and can breathe underwater by creating liquid bubbles of air. She is lighter than air and must always wear lead shoes or a tether to keep from floating away. Emma is also Abe’s former love interest in the 1940s and Jake’s current love interest.
Finlay MacMillan as Enoch O’Connor, a teenager and Olive’s love interest who can reanimate the deadand bring inanimate objects to life as his living puppets for a limited time by placing a heart inside
Lauren McCrostieas Olive Abroholos Elephanta, a pyrokinetic red-haired teenager, and Enoch’s love interest. She has to wear special black gloves to prevent burning everything she touches.
Cameron King as the voice and motion-capture of Millard Nullings, an invisibleboy^[10]
Pixie Daviesas Bronwyn Bruntley, a young girl with superhuman strength, Victor’s sister
Georgia Pemberton as Fiona Frauenfeld, a young girl who can control and maintain plants including the vegetables in Miss Peregrine’s garden^[10]
Milo Parkeras Hugh Apiston, a boy with bees living in his stomach^[10]
Raffaella Chapmanas Claire Densmore, a young girl with an additional mouth hidden in the back of her head^[10]
Hayden Keeler-Stone as Horace Somnusson, a boy who can project his dreams (which are sometimes prophetic) through a monocle^[10]
Joseph and Thomas Orwell as the Twins, two masked gorgon-like twin boys who turn anyone who sees them into stone. They normally wear hoods to hide their faces.
Louis Davison as Victor Brantley, Bronwyn’s late brother who had the same ability as her. He was killed by a hollow infiltrator before the events in the film and was briefly brought back to life by Enoch.^[10]

Wights and Hollows[edit]

Samuel L. Jacksonas Mr. Barron, the shape-shifting leader of the Wights and Hollows. Barron and his Wight and Hollow minions hunt Peculiars and devour their eyes to recover human form. Barron also believes by doing this that he is invincible. His shape-shifting peculiarity allows him to disguise himself as another person. When he uses his peculiarity to become a person who doesn’t exist, his white eyes don’t change, so he has to wear contact lenses. He can also form blades, axes, and/or lassos with his own hands.
- Allison Janneyas Dr. Nancy Golan, Jake’s psychiatrist and one of Mr. Barron’s disguised forms^[7]
- Rupert Everettas John Lamont (credited as “Ornithologist”), an ornithologist and another of Mr. Barron’s disguised forms^[7]
Scott Handy as Mr. Gleeson, a cryokinetic Wight
Helen Day as Miss Edwards, a half-simianWight with great agility, dexterity, and mobility^[11]
Jack Brady as Mr. Clark, a Wight
Philip Philmar as Mr. Archer, a Wight
Robert Milton Wallace as Mr. Malthus, a Hollow

Non-Peculiars[edit]

Chris O’Dowdas Franklin “Frank” Portman, Jake’s father and Abe’s son
Kim Dickensas Maryann Portman (credited as “Jake’s Mom”), Jake’s mother^[7], and an up-and-coming businesswoman
O-Lan Jonesas Shelly, Jake’s drugstore supervisor, and co-worker
Jennifer Jarackas as Susie Portman, Frank’s sister, and Jake’s aunt. She passes Jake her late father’s gift which gives him the way to find Miss Peregrine’s time loop.
George Vricos as Bobby, Judy’s husband, and Jake’s uncle
Brooke Jaye Taylor as Judy, Bobby’s wife, and Jake’s other aunt
Ioan Hefin as Kev, the bartender on Cairnholm in the present day
Nicholas Ameras Oggie, a blind and elderly present-day resident of Cairnholm
Shaun Thomas and Justin Davies as Dylan and Worm, two present-day teenage Welsh residents whom Jake meets in Cairnholm

Director Tim Burton makes a cameo appearance in the film as a visitor at the funfair in Blackpool who gets a skeleton thrown at him by a Hollow. Glen Mexted, who previously worked with Burton as an extra in both Dark Shadows and the music video for the Killers‘ “Here with Me“, also appears in the same scene as a customer eating ice cream.

Production[edit]

The film rights to the 2011 novel Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs were sold to 20th Century Fox in May of that year.^[12] In November, Deadline Hollywood reported that Tim Burton was in talks to direct and would also be involved in selecting a writer.^[13] On December 2, Jane Goldman was reportedly hired to adapt the story as a screenplay for the film.^[14]

On July 28, 2014, Eva Green was set to play Miss Peregrine in the film; Mischa Barton, Lucy Hale, and Alison Sudol were also considered.^[6] On September 24, 2014, it was announced that Asa Butterfield was being eyed for the second lead role as Burton’s choice, but that at that time he had not yet been offered the role.^[15] On November 5, 2014, Ella Purnell was offered a role and was in final talks to join the film; it was also reported that Butterfield had been offered the male lead role, and was the favored choice.^[16] On February 6, 2015, Samuel L. Jackson was added to the cast to play Mr. Barron, while Butterfield was confirmed for the second lead role.^[9] Terence Stamp, Chris O’Dowd, Rupert Everett, Kim Dickens, and Judi Dench were announced as being in the cast on March 12, 2015.^[7]

Filming was initially set to begin in August 2014 in London.^[17] Principal photography on the film began on February 24, 2015, in the Tampa Bay Area.^[18] Filming lasted for two weeks in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in Florida.^[18] It is the second Tim Burton film to be shot in the Tampa Bay area, the first being Edward Scissorhands, in 1989.^[18] Production of the film later moved to Caerhays Castle and Minions in Cornwall, and Blackpool in the United Kingdom, and Brasschaat, a municipality close to Antwerp, Belgium.^[7]^[19]^[20]

Music[edit]

The film’s score was composed by Mike Higham and Matthew Margeson. The soundtrack was released on October 11, 2016, by La-La Land Records. Florence and the Machine recorded the film’s end credits song, “Wish That You Were Here“.

Release[edit]

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was originally set for a release date of July 31, 2015.^[21] The release date moved to March 4, 2016, then again to December 25, 2016,^[5] before finally moving to September 30, 2016.

Box office[edit]

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children grossed $87.2 million in the United States and Canada and $207.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $295.1 million, against a production budget of $110 million.^[3]

In the United States and Canada, the film opened alongside Deepwater Horizon and was projected to gross around $25 million from 3,522 theaters in its opening weekend.^[4]^[22] In total, the film earned $28.9 million during its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office.^[23] The opening was on par with Dark Shadows‘ $29.7 million in 2012, Burton’s last big budgeted film.^[23] Variety called it “a mediocre start” given the film’s $110 million budget.^[24]

It had number one openings in Russia ($6.3 million), France ($5.3 million), Mexico (3.8 million), Australia ($3.1 million), Brazil ($2.7 million) and the Philippines ($1.7 million), and the biggest opening for Burton in Malaysia and Indonesia.^[25]^[26] In South Korea, it debuted at number two with $5.2 million. The film was released in China and Italy in December 2016 and Japan in February 2017.^[27]

Critical response[edit]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 253 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children proves a suitable match for Tim Burton’s distinctive style, even if it’s on stronger footing as a visual experience than a narrative one.”^[28] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 43 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”.^[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “B+” on an A+ to F scale.^[30]^[31]

IGN critic Samantha Ladwig gave the film a 7.2/10, summarizing her review with: “Though there are lingering questions about certain characters by the time the end credits roll, the film’s striking visuals help compensate for its unemotional and anti-climactic script.”^[32] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times wrote “Easily the director’s finest work since his masterful 2007 screen adaptation of Sweeney Todd, and a striking reminder of what an unfettered gothic imagination can achieve with the right focus and an infusion of discipline.”^[33] USA Today‘s Brian Truitt gave the film 3.5 out of 4 and wrote, “After a long run of dystopian YA movies for teen crowds, Burton is just the right guy to make cinema weird again.”^[34] Calvin Wilson of St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave the film 3.5 out of 4 and stated, “Burton delivers his most ambitious and engaging film since Sweeney Todd (2007). Although the story becomes increasingly complex as it goes along, the emotional payoff is more than worth it.”^[35]

Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post gave the film 3 out of 4 and wrote “The very idea of this – at once gruesome and darkly funny — is perfectly suited to Burton’s sensibility, which also reveals itself in the casting of Butterfield, who has the quality of a young, slightly less freaky Johnny Depp.”^[36] The Guardian‘s Jordan Hoffman gave the film 4 out of 5 and said, “We get the playfulness of seeing quirky magic powers mixed with the familiarity of how a time loop plays out. Add in Burton’s authorial visual stamp and what we’ve got is an extremely pleasing formula. It gels as Tim Burton’s best (non-musical) live-action movie for 20 years.”^[37] James Berardinelli from ReelViews gave the film 3 out of 4 and stated, “Overall, despite feeling a little long and suffering from a rushed ending, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a fresh and engaging storybook adventure that should appeal to viewers both inside and out of the core demographic.”^[38] The New York Times‘s Manohla Dargis gave a positive review, writing: “The story gets busy — you may get lost in 1943 or perhaps closer to the present — but it scarcely matters. Mr. Burton’s attention to detail and the ebb and flow of tone (scary, funny, eerie), as well as his sensitive, gentle work particularly with the child actors, make each new turn another occasion for unfettered imagination.”^[39] Devan Coggan from Entertainment Weekly gave the film “B-” (67/100), describing the film “The film chooses style over substance, emphasizing how cool the children’s powers are without fleshing them out as full characters. To compete with Burton’s best, his heroic weirdos need a little more heart — and the monsters need sharper teeth.”^[40]

Kyle Smith of the New York Post, Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Tom Huddleston of Time Out decried the film. According to Smith, who gave the film 2 stars out of 4: “It may be senseless, but it’s sumptuous: the picture looks like it cost about a billion bucks, with absolutely every detail giving Burton an excuse to take his mad picture-book mind and let loose, the way Emma the girl full of air keeps soaring away from earthly constraints. Burton may give us a bland hero, a tepid love story, and a muddled plot but, hey, at least he’s got a skeleton army doing battle with giant tentacle monsters at an amusement park.”^[41] Roeper, who scored the film 1.5 stars out of 4, began his review by writing: “I’m wondering if the mutant kids at Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children ever play basketball against their rivals across the pond, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. I’d watch that. I’d certainly rather watch that than Tim Burton’s adaptation of the popular children’s book about a school for freakishly gifted children. This is a messy, confusing, uninvolving mishmash of old-school practical effects and CGI battles that feels … off nearly every misstep of the way.^[42] Tom Huddleston of Time Out gave the film 2 stars out of 5, writing: “Director Tim Burton likes his films busy: watch a classic like Beetlejuice or Batman, and you’ll be pushed to find a single frame that isn’t packed with background detail, weird creatures, ornate furnishings, and intricate costumes. The problem with his new film, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, is that the script is every bit as busy and it can get pretty confusing.”^[43]

Accolades[edit]

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Nominee(s)	Results	Ref.
Costume Designers Guild	February 21, 2017	Excellence in Fantasy Film	Colleen Atwood	Nominated	^[44]
Globes de Cristal Awards	January 30, 2017	Best Foreign Film	Tim Burton	Nominated	^[45]
Hollywood Music in Media Awards	November 17, 2016	Best Original Song – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film	“Wish That You Were Here” – Florence and the Machine	Nominated	^[46] ^[47]
People’s Choice Awards	January 18, 2017	Favorite Dramatic Movie	Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children	Nominated	^[48]
Saturn Awards	June 28, 2017	Best Fantasy Film	Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children	Nominated	^[49]
Teen Choice Awards	August 13, 2017	Choice Fantasy Movie	Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children	Nominated	^[50]
		Choice Fantasy Movie Actor	Asa Butterfield	Nominated
		Choice Fantasy Movie Actress	Eva Green	Nominated
Visual Effects Society Awards	February 7, 2017	Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature	Jelmer Boskma, Frazer Churchill, Hal Couzens, Andrew Lockley, and Hayley Williams	Nominated	^[51]
Women Film Critics Circle	December 19, 2016	Best Family Film	Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children	Nominated	^[52]