Tim Burton has done it again and for the second time this year, Burton released another blockbuster hit. Movie director, Tim Burton, is known for his charming yet eerie classic films such as Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, The Nightmare before Christmas,  and most recently, the retelling of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Tim Burton is what I like to call a modern day creator of penny dreadfuls. This Halloween season he has created a new thrilling adventure through the release of a chilling film called Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a novel originally written by Randsom Riggs. It tells the story of a young boy named Jake (Asa Butterfield) who has an extremely close relationship with his grandfather (Terence Stamp). For the majority of Jake’s life, his grandfather told him stories of an orphan home he used to live in which held children with special gifts and peculiarities. Jake’s grandfather also warns Jake about the monsters in the world that he has encountered and the dangers they bring.

After a traumatic event, Jake travels to an island in Wales, where he discovers the orphanage known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Upon Jake’s arrival, Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) welcomes Jake with open arms. At the orphanage, children such as Emma (Ella Purnell), a girl who can manipulate air, the twins (Joseph Odwell and Thomas Odwell) with their masked faces, and many more characters are introduced that mirror the peculiar traits that Jake’s grandfather described. After establishing a friendship with these rejects, Jake finds himself in a situation where their fate lies in his hands.

This movie starts off with a beautiful opening title scene with vintage pictures from an old book that causes the audience to wonder what is to come. However, the film starts to take a negative decline from there.  The acting in the beginning of the movie was just not to par and there were missing emotions and unnecessary humor at times.

Once the plot began to progress, the acting became increasing better. The highlight of the movie was Miss Peregrine’s character who brought a spunky personality to the film. Her magical powers and loving heart was able to enchant the audience. Samuel L. Jackson as Barron, brought a comical side to the character. Although he was not necessarily scary as I thought he should be, he did bring a lively manor to the film.

Sadly, throughout this film there were many plot holes, under-developed characters and childish scenes during mature topics. Not that there is anything wrong with playful childish scenes, but in this case it did not seem to fit the story. Overall, the acting was average at best. Even Dame Judy Dench’s character, Miss Avocet, lacked depth. This is not necessarily the actors fault, rather a weak screenplay. While this movie was entertaining, I feel that it lacked the subtle necessities of a great film.

Overall, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children was an entertaining film, but with the multiple difficulties spanning throughout the plot, I would rate it a 2.5  on the 5.0 “Film Lasso” Movie Success scale.