Exotic, eye-catching, endearing, thrilling, and dramatic are some words that one could use to describe this movie. Unfortunately, “cliché” is also one of those words. With Tim Burton in the director’s chair, I was expecting more from him & this movie, as I hold several of his movies close to my heart (Edward Scissorhands, Batman, Beetlejuice). However, some of the over-dramatic scenes became a bit much for me, and teetered on being laughable, so this is definitely not making that list.

I was happy to see Eva Green, as I’ve been a fan of the Penny Dreadful series. However, it almost feels as if typecasting is following her in her career. She seems to portray a lot of wonderfully dark characters, with this one (a strict caretaker for children) being no exception.

As the title suggests, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a fantasy & action style story, centering on a group of “peculiar” children with special abilities. Those abilities range from being invisible, animation of inanimate objects, and fire conjuration, just to name a few. The children are watched over by several caretakers, each with their own abilities, and have special ways of ensuring the safety of the children. The tension builds with the introduction of the film’s villain known as The Barron (played by Samuel L. Jackson), and the definitely frightening monsters known as The Hollows.

The film’s hero, is a young man by the name of Jake (portrayed by Asa Butterfield). Jake begins a romance with a girl named Emma (Ella Purnell), which I feel like younger me would have enjoyed (maybe even found it endearing), but that aspect of the story seems to rely too much on the overdramatic issues I mentioned earlier.

When Jake joins up with the other children, however, he comes to discover that his own ability may hold the key to their salvation, and they must find a way to work together to fight The Baron (Samuel L. Jackson) for the good of everyone.

On the plus side, this was a visually pleasing movie, as the scenery & costumes were a delight to the eyes. It also has quite a few great actors making appearances. I would definitely recommend the film to pre-teens who are not easily scared by on-screen monsters, as well as to younger teens who enjoy the curious & the unknown. However, I would not recommend this one to those who have read the books, as there were a lot of comments from the rest of the audience that the books were much darker, creepier, and just better. Personally, I won’t be adding this to my DVD collection, but I will be reading the books in order to see the differences.

I’m giving this film 2 out of 5 Hollows.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is rated PG-13, and releases in theaters on September 30^th, 2016.