Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: September 30, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
22
Mixed:
18
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
USA TodayBrian TruittSep 29, 2016
This is pretty much Burton doing an "X-Men" movie, with a plucky yesteryear vibe and evil Samuel L. Jackson thrown in for extra fun. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 29, 2016
Burton delivers his most ambitious and engaging film since “Sweeney Todd” (2007). Although the story becomes increasingly complex as it goes along, the emotional payoff is more than worth it. Read full review
80
Total FilmKate StablesNov 2, 2016
Hugely charming if somewhat cluttered, Burton’s horror-spiked YA freaks-and-a-geek fantasy proves a Home run for Asa Butterfield. Read full review
80
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 29, 2016
Mr. Burton, whose artistry is at times most evident in its filigree, can be a great collector when given the right box to fill, as is the case here. He revels in the story’s icky, freaky stuff; he’s right at home, which may be why he seems liberated by its labyrinthine turns and why you don’t care if you get a little lost in them. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSep 29, 2016
The sense of film craft here is so delicate and assured that, even at its most razzle dazzle-prone moments, the movie never seems to be straining for effect. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanSep 25, 2016
We get the playfulness of seeing quirky magic powers mixed with the familiarity of how a time loop plays out. Add in Burton’s authorial visual stamp and what we’ve got is an extremely pleasing formula. It gels as Tim Burton’s best (non-musical) live-action movie for 20 years. Read full review
80
Village VoiceChris PackhamSep 25, 2016
Burton scales his finale down to the size of a tourist boardwalk for an unexpectedly gripping crowd-pleaser of an action scene. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 30, 2016
A fresh and engaging storybook adventure that should appeal to viewers both inside and out of the core demographic. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Mark MedleySep 29, 2016
Very much a superhero film – "X-Men" as imagined by Edward Gorey. But it’s not populated with the sorts of characters we’ve come to expect – tormented anti-heroes or wisecrackin’ daredevils or noble demi-gods. Rather, it’s a film about a group of broken children, not off saving the world but being saved from the world. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTom RussoSep 29, 2016
The movie bogs down only toward the finish, when it turns into a metahuman free-for-all. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanSep 29, 2016
The relatable theme of the magical misfit may not be entirely original. But as brought to life by Burton, Riggs’s fictional vision of a world in which the nonconformist can flourish serves as both a self-portrait of the auteur and a “Wonderland”-like looking glass in which many in the audience will no doubt see a reflection of themselves. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldSep 28, 2016
The time-travel element gets awfully twisty, perhaps a little too much so. But there’s great pleasure to be had in the performances, particularly Green’s deliciously avian Miss Peregrine. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezSep 25, 2016
Tim Burton's direction reminds us of the distinct, peculiar coyness that was always at the heart of his best films. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsRaakhee MirchandaniSep 30, 2016
Riggs' original story is strong, but the characters in the movie feel empty. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghSep 29, 2016
Burton reins in his worst impulses, bad habits that he’s been cultivating for over a decade, to make a wickedly dark children’s movie that is, finally, blessedly, fun to look at. Read full review
70
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 25, 2016
Goldman’s frequently amusing script is the secret ingredient that makes “Miss Peregrine” such an appropriate fit for Burton’s peculiar sensibility, allowing the director to revisit and expand motifs and themes from his earlier work. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerSep 30, 2016
The children are under the aegis of Miss Peregrine – played with divaesque triumphalism by Eva Green – who is capable of transforming herself into a falcon. Read full review
67
The Film StageMarc CiafardiniSep 29, 2016
A mostly winning combination of the strange and unusual, the adventure is an entertaining, clever, and fun one. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyDevan CogganSep 28, 2016
The film chooses style over substance, emphasizing how cool the children’s powers are without fleshing them out as full characters. To compete with Burton’s best, his heroic weirdos need a little more heart—and the monsters need sharper teeth. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 27, 2016
Burton's manner is changed, not drastically or consistently but more controlled, making strangeness the story's accessory rather than its purpose. He seems inspired by this material for the first time in years, in a creative vein where he finds the most satisfaction. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniSep 30, 2016
Tries - far too hard - to replicate the Alice effect and falls short. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversSep 29, 2016
The film feels overstuffed and way too familiar, with Burton repeating tricks from his greatest hits (think Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands). And the fun runs out much before the film ends. But stick with it just for those times when Burton flies high on his own peculiar genius. Read full review
60
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Sep 26, 2016
While it's neither as dark, funny nor peculiar as you’d expect from Tim Burton, there’s still much here to admire. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 25, 2016
For a time, an appealing gentleness prevails that's rooted in this unique inter-generational romance, a feeling augmented in particular by Purnell's slow-blooming flower of a performance, and if the film had remained focused more on the improbabilities of this love story, it might have emerged as something rather special. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 28, 2016
The problem is that everything fun and resonant about the movie (like a boy whose eye works as a movie projector, unspooling his dreams onto the wall) ends up feeling rather ornamental. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 3, 2016
I was a little awestruck, here and there, at the world “Miss Peregrine” serves up. And I liked the dark and deadly sensibility Burton was reaching for. But the cast and the oh-so-conventional third act Battle Royale let a promising premise down. Read full review
50
The PlaylistNick SchagerOct 1, 2016
This adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ children’s-lit novel offers up merely serviceable studio spectacle, minus any of Burton’s former malevolent mad-genius spirit. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithSep 29, 2016
Burton may give us a bland hero, a tepid love story and a muddled plot but, hey, at least he’s got a skeleton army doing battle with giant tentacle monsters at an amusement park. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 29, 2016
A Burton film that mines the romantic fable elements of “Edward Scissorhands,” while pushing the disturbing limits of a film that seems to be marketed for small children, even if it isn’t really intended for them. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 29, 2016
Burton's never been especially good at finding the internal motor or the rhythmic drive within a scene. This, I think, is why Miss Peregrine stalls, again and again, while the bird woman or Samuel L. Jackson's pointy-toothed, fright-wigged Barron tells us what's up with what we just saw, and what'll happen next. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushBritt HayesSep 27, 2016
If this were a better, more entertaining film, Miss Peregrine’s could have been a thoughtful and bold metatextual thesis on Burton’s entire career. Instead, like its partially-formed villainous apparitions, it comes frustratingly close to achieving substance. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoSep 26, 2016
With Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Tim Burton focuses all his energy on a dusty, far-too-droll buildup that's far from worth whatever short-lived excitement his finale brings. Read full review
45
The VergeTasha RobinsonOct 3, 2016
Burton's adaptation of Ransom Riggs' 2011 bestseller is a manic but emotionally inert movie that packs on the quirks without finding any personality underneath them. Read full review
42
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerOct 2, 2016
It’s visually sumptuous, a heady blend of Burton’s usual broken-doll aesthetic and some seriously impressive visual effects. And most importantly, while long, it’s rarely boring. The bad: It simply doesn’t add up to much. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichSep 25, 2016
“Miss Peregrine’s” is a hollow ode to wonder and weirdness that suggests we’re running perilously low on both. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 1, 2016
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children could have been a return to form for Burton, but he loses his sense of direction halfway through. If only he could find his way back to his wild bread-crumb trail, the one that guided him so ably for years. Read full review
40
The TelegraphRobbie CollinSep 29, 2016
It’s another flick through a familiar and by-now bulging scrapbook, but it leaves you craving less – and more. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 28, 2016
It’s a phantasmagorical chase movie that rarely takes a breather long enough for you to enjoy the sights along the way. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 26, 2016
For a movie that’s meant to have some magic in it, Peculiar Children displays little buoyancy, the proceedings weighed down by tedious world-building and perfunctory thematic lip-service about the need for community and the power that comes from finding one’s voice. Read full review
40
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonSep 26, 2016
Like four or five Harry Potter books squeezed into a single movie: it makes precious little sense. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireSep 29, 2016
Because even though I’d just seen the exact same movie my son had, I wasn’t sure I completely understood it, either. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 29, 2016
This is a messy, confusing, uninvolving mishmash of old-school practical effects and CGI battles that feels … off nearly every misstep of the way. It’s like watching a master musician play a piano he somehow doesn’t realize is out of tune. Read full review
25
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeSep 25, 2016
This adventure should have been spooky and witty and exciting, but instead it’s just dreary and dull. Peculiarity has rarely been this tedious. Read full review
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