“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.”(351 Riggs) From the minute you enter the world of “Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children,” a fantasy novel by Ransom Riggs, and movie directed by Tim Burton, you are transported from your ordinary life into a tale of 160 year old children, horrific monsters, and days that never end. The characters are all interesting and well rounded and the plot is highly complex and brimming with mystique. While the movie is full of unrealistic situations, its characters are relatable and when the screen goes black and the lights flicker back on you truly feel as if you are losing your own friends, rather than fictional characters with superpowers. Director, Tim Burton manages to create an entirely impossible universe that you can't help being tricked into believing. Though the story certainly has its flaws, it is a wild ride from start to finish.

In "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children", the main character, Jacob Portman is pulled from his ordinary life when his grandfather is brutally murdered. Jacob searches for people that were closely tied to his grandfather's past, Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children, and finds them on a small island in Wales. His world is turned upside down when he realizes that he is not only friends with the peculiar children, but he is one himself, and he is the only one who can save them from the monsters that are trying to kill them all.

It is nearly impossible to imagine a world such as the one that Ransom Riggs created when he wrote Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. The deadly monsters, mixing of timelines and the many other awe striking scenes are either too beautiful or terrifying to picture in your mind's eye make the job of turning such a story into a movie is incredibly daunting. However director Tim Burton did an excellent job recreating the book that the readers had only ever dreamed of seeing. He perfectly captured the eerie and suspenseful mood that was so prominent in the book. Burton created a true masterpiece, through a combination of a thrilling soundtrack, brilliant casting and the impeccable recreation of complex scenes. The production of the movie was beautiful, the lighting and sets were intriguing to watch, but the real showstopper lay in the casting and portrayal of the characters.  Everything down to the barest detail on the costumes was simply spectacular. In the book, Riggs created collages of pictures that showed each character and their attire. This movie matched the clothing the children in the pictures wore down to the last seam, which truly enhanced the movie, making not only that characters specific personalities and peculiarities stand out, but emphasized the transition between the two timelines. Tim Burton did a brilliant job not only recreating but enhancing the world of peculiar children.

Every great hero has its weakness, and the same goes for this movie. The first half was executed almost flawlessly, but when the true conflict arose, it seemed as if Burton completely lost sight of all logic.The final battle between the children and the monsters had the potential to be terrifying, exciting and completely thrilling however I was very underwhelmed, and found myself questioning if entire scenes were just jokes. I can see where Burton was going with these scenes, but the product just fell short. An even bigger issue in my eyes was that the supporting characters seemed more like props than people. They only are focused on in scenes that display their peculiarities, which were basically the only things that distinguished them from each other. Everyone featured in the movie except the three of four main people had basically no personality, depth and were for the most part, interchangeable. However, the main characters were spectacular enough to almost make up for the lack of personality in supporting characters. They each have their own quirks which make them so much more relatable. They are portrayed in ways that drastically improve the mood and quality of the story, Jacobs timidness, Miss Peregrine’s strength and Emma's bravery really helped emphasize how different their roles were and created a much more enjoyable watching experience. No movie is perfect but the good certainly outweighs the bad in this case.

The movie rendition of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is as extraordinary as the children in it. There is hardly a dull moment from the minute the first picture flashes across the screen, until it goes black. It is awe inspiring from an artistic standpoint and even without the excellent presentation it would still be intriguing.  Its shortcomings are made up for by its absolutely beautiful production and excellent main characters. So walk into the theater expecting the best, because that is what you will get.