First Take: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children- a typical Burton film that might confuse some audiences

SYPNOSIS: When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that stretches across time, he finds Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. But the danger deepens after he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers.

Tim Burton has been a director with a mixed output over the last few years- he may be one of Hollywood’s most creative directors, but his last few films have failed to live up to his iconic work. Miss Peregrine is by far his best film in years- and it’s clearly obvious why.

Burton returns to the Gothic style he is just so good at with this adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ 2011 novel, and with Jane Goldman penning the script this is already making a recipe for perfection. Unfortunately, there are some issues in the second act that can confuse viewers who aren’t paying enough attention. Performance wise, the film has some great work from Eva Green, Samuel L Jackson and Dame Judi Dench, but the real stars are Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell as Jacob and Emma respectively. It’s shot very well, and the score from Matthew Margeson and Michael Higham is exactly what you’d expect from a Burton film of this nature. A word of caution is needed though, as there are some scenes that really test what you’d expect to see in a 12a certificate film- my advice to families would be to avoid taking anyone under 12 to see this without a parent, as some scenes were a little too squeamish for some audience members in my screening.

THE VERDICT

Miss Peregrine is a film that tests audience members- some elements are a little too much for anyone under 12, but the performances and script create a believable effort from Burton and his team. It isn’t the 5 star film we were hoping for, but it is his best film for several years. And I’m very happy about that.

Rating- 4/5