Tim Burton’s dark fantasy movie, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, stars Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell as some of the titular “Peculiars.” Though the cast of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children stars some of Tim Burton’s regular collaborators and was adapted from a very popular novel, it received middling reviews when released. Now, it is considered one of Burton’s most underrated films, and one of the best movies about kids with powers. The story concerns Jake, who grew up hearing his grandfather talk about monsters, only to discover that the monsters are real, and Miss Peregrine can help.
The movie introduces Miss Peregrine, played by Eva Green, who has provided a home for children with special powers, and are known as Peculiars, by creating a time loop. This allows the children to relive the same day over and over again in safety, without aging. Miss Peregrine, a Peculiar herself, is one of the most powerful characters in both the book and the movie, and while Eva Green gives an excellent performance, not all book fans were impressed. The fantasy movie adaptation was not like the book and made significant changes to some fan-favorite Peculiars.
12
Miss Peregrine
Time Manipulation And Transformation
Close
Among all the characters in Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children, Eva Green’s character is one of the most powerful. She plays the titular Miss Peregrine, who is a special kind of Peculiar known as an Ymbryne. She and the other Ymbrynes can shapeshift into birds, and while she becomes a peregrine falcon, Tim Burton’s movie briefly shows another character with the same powers. Miss Avocet can turn into an avocet, and is played by Dame Judi Dench.
Due to their abilities, they often set out into the wider world to rescue Peculiars as children, and bring them within the time loop to grow older and wiser.
Ymbrynes like Miss Peregrine also have the ability to manipulate time, which is why she is able to create a safe haven for the children in her charge. Due to their abilities, they often set out into the wider world to rescue Peculiars as children, and bring them within the time loop to grow older and wiser, like Jake’s grandfather, Abe. Miss Peregrine’s time loop is September 3rd, 1943, just before the house is destroyed in WWII.
11
Jake Portman
Ability To See Hollows
Close
Jake is the main character in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and, unlike many other children who find themselves under Miss Peregrine’s care, Jake’s peculiarity is not immediately obvious. Peculiarities are often inherited, although they can sometimes skip a generation, and Jake has inherited his ability from his grandfather, Abe. Both characters can see monstrous shapeshifting creatures called Hollowgasts (or “Hollows.“) Abe’s fears have been written off as dementia, but his cryptic warnings save Jake’s life.
The Hollows are Peculiar scientists who became monstrous after killing an Ymbryne while trying to use her powers to make themselves immortal. They are shapeshifters and, by eating the eyes of other Peculiars, they can take on the appearance of a human, but with white eyes. Jake has to deal with the death of Abe at the hands of a Hollow, subsequent betrayal, and multiple time jumps, making this one of Asa Butterfield’s best movie roles.
10
Emma Bloom
Aerokinesis
Close
Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children is often considered to be one of Ella Purnell’s best movies. She plays Emma, who has the power of aerokinesis, which means that she is lighter than air, and can float like a human helium balloon. She is also able to manipulate air in unexpected ways, including breathing underwater. This was a very creative approach compared to most depictions of characters with the ability to control air, and Emma’s appearance was one of the most memorable in the movie.
Related
Fallout Star’s Mystical Book Adaptation Continues Success 9 Years Later After Changing Streaming Homes
While Ella Purnell got her biggest role in Fallout, she featured prominently in a fantasy movie that’s now doing well on streaming nine years later.
Posts
Due to her powers, Emma would naturally float away if not tied down, so she wore enormous lead boots throughout most of the movie to keep her on the ground. While this was an interesting (and easy to cosplay) look, Emma was not a popular character among fans of the original book, as she was drastically changed from her book counterpart, with the movie swapping her abilities with those of another character.
9
Olive
Fire Manipulation
Close
In the original book, it is Olive who can float, and Emma who can manipulate fire. Tim Burton’s movie not only swapped the characters’ powers, but made Olive into a teenager, while she is physically one of the youngest children in the book. Olive can create fire in her hands, but could potentially burn everything she touches. Like Rogue in the X-Men franchise, Olive wears gloves at all times to prevent harming her home and the other characters.
Olive looks around 15, but she is around 75 in reality, with an implied romantic relationship with one of the other Peculiars of around the same age.
Her powers are almost the exact opposite of her personality, as Olive is one of the quieter and more gentle Peculiars living with Miss Peregrine. She usually uses her powers for small tasks like boiling the kettle by holding it, and setting fires by touching the hearth.
8
Enoch
Reanimation
Close
Many children in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children have powers that appear to reflect the opposite of their personalities, That said, Enoch is a somber and serious character, which is understandable given his rather disturbing peculiarity. Enoch can reanimate the dead, and bring inanimate objects to life. He is one of Tim Burton’s best characters, despite having a relatively minor role in the movie. His combination of kindness and creepiness is a common Tim Burton trope.
Enoch’s parents ran a funeral home, where Enoch would raise the dead and make them perform battles before the power wore off. He has a collection of animal hearts, which he implants into his creepy puppets to give them life, which disturbs Jake. In the movie, Enoch’s abilities are temporary, so while he is able to revive the frozen Olive, he is not able to bring a dead body back to life permanently.
7
Millard
Invisibility
Close
While Millard is a main character in the books, he is a minor character in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and is usually referenced when characters discuss the various peculiarities of the children while looking through Miss Peregrine’s photo album. Millard is invisible and wears a flat cap and clothes, which give him a physical form. He is played by Cameron James King (Spellbound,) using motion capture and voice acting.
6
Bronwyn
Super Strength
Close
Bronwyn is a small and fun-loving child of around 12, with a mischievous sense of humor. Miss Peregrine describes her as having both inner and outer strength, as Bronwyn’s peculiarity is her extreme physical strength. She is easily able to lift Jake up and turn him around, push a sofa across the room with a light kick, and lift a boulder above her head. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children implies that Bronwyn’s true potential has not yet been realized, and the extent of her strength might be even more extreme.
Related
1 Change Would Have Made Tim Burton’s 8-Year-Old Fantasy Movie With 64% On RT A Bigger Success
Tim Burton has found notable success with his strange and dark fantasy movies, yet this 2016 film has remained largely underrated for 1 big reason.
Posts
Bronwyn’s brother, Victor, also has super-strength abilities, but he barely appears in the movies, and it appears that most of his scenes were cut. The children cannot venture outside of the time loop as they will become vulnerable to the Hollows, who cannot enter the loop as long as Miss Peregrine resets it every day. Before the events in the movie, Victor leaves the loop, is killed by a Hollow, and is brought briefly back to life by Enoch.
5
Hugh
Bees Living In Him
Close
Hugh’s peculiarity could have made him one of the creepiest kids in movies, but in typical Tim Burton style, Hugh is lovable and accident-prone while also having some phobia-inducing powers. Hugh has bees living in his stomach, and Miss Peregrine compares his personality to their home, saying they are “sweet when left alone, but when provoked, capable of delivering a painful sting.” Hugh cannot always control his bees and wears a beekeeper’s veil to keep them inside him, but he can also unleash them deliberately.
Hugh has a mischievous streak and is seen letting his bees out to distract the other peculiar children when they are playing with a ball, but does serious damage when unleashing his powers on the Hollows. In several scenes, Hugh opens his mouth wide, and the bees appear to pour out of him, which is a visual image usually more suited to a horror movie like Candyman. Still, Hugh cares for the bees, helping them to pollinate, and they rarely sting.
4
Fiona
Can Control Nature
Close
Many fantasy movies focus on their characters’ power for fighting, but Fiona has one of the most useful peculiarities in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Fiona is finely attuned to nature, and her powers allow her to control and nurture the plants surrounding her, which include the vegetables in the house’s garden. In the movie, Fiona makes a carrot grow to an enormous size, feeding everybody in the house at dinner.
It is understandable that due to their connection to the natural world, Fiona and Hugh can make a formidable pair when working together.
Fiona’s powers are much more versatile than they appear, and she does not just use them for feeding the household. When she escapes out of a window, she makes a tree branch extend toward her so she can climb down, and when she throws a handful of seeds at one of the Hollows, they grow into constricting vines within seconds. It is understandable that due to their connection to the natural world, Fiona and Hugh can make a formidable pair when working together.
3
Claire
Has A Mouth Hidden At The Back Of Her Head
Close
Claire is one of the few book characters whose age was not changed for the movie, as she is about six years old in both. Claire is one of the characters in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children whose powers and appearance are opposites. Claire’s style resembles a cute doll, as she wears pink dresses and has her hair in ringlets, with a smiley but shy demeanor. However, her disturbing peculiarity is revealed at dinner.
Claire reveals that she has a mouth at the back of her head, which resembles a shark or piranha’s mouth, with sharp triangular teeth. The mouth demolishes a large chicken drumstick within seconds, and Claire is aware that her peculiarity has the potential to be disturbing, as she is reluctant at first to eat in front of Jake. Still, she uses her second mouth to save the other Peculiars by biting the hand of a Hollow pursuing them.
2
Horace
Can See The Future In Dreams
Close
Horace is dressed in a dated but stylish way, and he is interested in fashion. His powers are reflected using his interest, as he wears a futuristic monocle-like device, which he uses to project his thoughts on a blank wall, for the other Peculiars to see. Horace can often dream of the future, and while many of his dreams are entertaining and the Peculiars treat the “dream watching” activity like a cinema, some of Horace’s dreams reveal a disturbing fate for the children.
1
The Twins
Can Turn People To Stone
Close
The Twins are very typical Tim Burton characters, with the most distinctive appearance of all the characters in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The two only show their faces once in the entire movie, spending most of their time wearing matching white theatrical outfits that resemble a cross between clowns and ballerinas. The Twins have a good reason for hiding their faces, as their peculiarity gives them a Gorgon-like ability to turn people to stone by looking at them.
Your Rating
close
10 stars
9 stars
8 stars
7 stars
6 stars
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Rate Now
0/10
Leave a Review
Your comment has not been saved
Your changes have been saved
Email is sent
Email has already been sent
My List
My Favorite Movies
My Watchlist
Success!
13
8.4/10
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
PG-13
FantasyAdventure
When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that spans different worlds and times, he finds Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. But the mystery and danger deepen when he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers. Based on the 2011 novel by Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was directed by Tim Burton and stars Eva Green as the titular character.
Where to Watch
- stream
- rent
- buy
Not available
Not available
Not available
*Availability in US
Release Date
September 30, 2016
Cast
Asa Butterfield
, Raffiella Chapman
, Milo Parker
, Rupert Everett
, Kim Dickens
, O-Lan Jones
, Allison Janney
, Terence Stamp
, Samuel L. Jackson
, Ella Wahlestedt
, Eva Green
, Ella Purnell
, Judi Dench
, Chris O’Dowd
Runtime
127 minutes
Director
Tim Burton
Writers
Jane Goldman
Studio(s)
20th Century
Distributor(s)
20th Century
Expand