Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

"An old-timey children’s home populated by odd inhabitants feels so much up Tim Burton’s alley it comes as a surprise that his latest opens with something we’ve barely ever seen from him before - a stock-standard, contemporary, everyday setting. Scenes in a psychiatrist’s office, where Jake (Asa Butterfield) finds himself being helped by Alison Janney in dealing with his grandad’s unusual demise, are so un-Burton that it’s almost jarring. After recent, risible, efforts, this isn’t exactly unwelcome."

"Goldman’s frequently amusing script is the secret ingredient that makes “Miss Peregrine” such an appropriate fit for Burton’s peculiar sensibility..."

"Like four or five Harry Potter books squeezed into a single movie: it makes precious little sense."

"Mr. Burton's attention to detail and to 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."

"It gels as Tim Burton’s best (non-musical) live-action movie for 20 years."

"For much of the film's length we find him in his element, taking advantage of what was clearly a generous budget to indulge his fantasies."

"There is some genuinely frightening imagery on display, from Franken-toys to faceless horrors. Then again, a lack of scares is often a lament about modern-day kids' cinema."

"A moody, spooky film that may be a touch nightmarish for very young audiences..."

"If the film had remained focused more on the improbabilities of this love story, it might have emerged as something rather special."

"While it's neither as dark, funny nor peculiar as you’d expect from Tim Burton, there’s still much here to admire."