Written by Evan Purcell, March 22, 2016, at 5:00 p.m.
With the new trailer for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, there is a definite war brewing, a winner-takes-all battle between a good Tim Burton movie and a bad Tim Burton movie. This September, we’ll find out which side ultimately wins, but for now, let’s watch the trailer and place our bets.
First, a little history: Tim Burton is one of the most visually distinctive directors in Hollywood. Legend has it that he stepped on a nail while crossing an empty field, and from his spilled blood grew the very first Hot Topic store. He’s a kooky outsider with a family-friendly Goth sensibility, and we all love him for that.
He’s also a satirist and a darkly funny filmmaker, purposely zigging when other directors would zag. Case-in-point: rewatch Batman Returns. What other filmmakers would start a major superhero movie with a scene where a rich couple find out their infant is deformed, lock him in a cage, and throw him into the sewer? And for bonus points, the infant’s father was played by Paul Reubens less than a year after he was arrested for masturbating in public. I mean, seriously. It was like Burton was messing with us, trying to see how much he could get away with before people called him out for it. (The movie ended up being the third biggest film of the year.)
As Burton’s career progressed, he maintained his strong visual style, but that humorous spark—that anarchic spirit—seemed to disappear from his movies. For a while, his films looked great, but they didn’t really add up to anything special. His most successful movie—2010’s Alice in Wonderland—was also his most disappointing. It still had some cool visuals, but it embraced everything that early Burton films would’ve openly mocked. In other words, it was commercial.
Since then, he’s bounced back and forth between good films (Big Eyes) and bad (Dark Shadows). With this trailer, there’s evidence that Peculiar Children could fall into either category. Let’s break things down:
The Good
1. It embraces the outcast.
Burton has always been at his best when his movies are about merry bands of misfits. Take a look at Ed Wood, his amazing biopic about the world’s worst filmmaker and the oddballs who surround him. It’s goofy and a little sad, but Burton is clearly siding with the underdog. Now contrast that with Planet of the Apes, which is about a conventionally handsome astronaut stranded in a planet of primates. The former is one of Burton’s best, and the latter is one of his worst. A lot of that has to do with the outcast factor. Clearly, Burton felt more kinship and enthusiasm with Ed Wood than with the bland astronaut, and that comes across in both movies.
Thankfully, Peculiar Children is all about outcasts banding together. That’s definitely a good sign.
2. This isn’t a Capital-B “Burton” film.
For all his talents, Tim Burton does tend to repeat himself, and you can often see in his trailers which of his own movies he’s stealing from. Oh look, it’s the twisted trees from Sleepy Hollow! Hey, listen to the Danny Elfman score that sounds exactly like Edward Scissorhands! Wow, it’s Johnny Depp in weird make-up, just like… well, a dozen different movies at this point.
All that said, this new trailer doesn’t look like it’s stealing from his earlier work. The setting is a lot more colorful than his usual stuff. The Danny Elfman score (which I assume will be in the actual movie) has been replaced by a creepy Mama Cass cover for the trailer. All of the actors are new, except for Eva Green (who was hands-down the best part of Dark Shadows). It still feels Burtonian, but not in a repetitive way.
3. There’s no Johnny Depp in sight.
Let’s be honest. Some of Burton’s best films have starred Depp. Their sensibilities go together like black and… black. They’re Hollywood weirdos who work very well together. However, they haven’t made a great movie together in a long time. The best Burton movies of the last decade-plus have been the ones without Johnny Depp: Big Eyes and Big Fish. Depp’s absence from Peculiar Children definitely bodes well.
Those are all the good signs. Now, on to…
The Bad
1. The CGI is back.
Tim Burton is old school. That’s why his animated films are jerky stop motion. When he succumbs to the siren song of CGI, things usually don’t work out. Look at Mars Attacks. Look at Alice in Wonderland. If this movie uses CGI sparingly (like Big Fish), things will be okay. But judging by the monster at the end of the trailer, I doubt that will be the case.
2. The humor is missing.
Aside from a moment when a little girl eats her dinner through the back of her head (a very Burton moment, indeed), there doesn’t seem to be anything satirical or funny about the trailer. It looks like it’ll be romantic, which has always treated Burton well in the past (Scissorhands, Big Fish), but Burton needs some satirical bite to soften his Goth sensibilities. Here’s hoping the movie will have at least some of that.
3. It’s a freaking “Chosen One” narrative.
Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. Every superhero origin story. Come on, Hollywood. Every main character doesn’t have to be a very special person who is destined to save the world. So far, Burton has only fallen into this trip once (Alice in Wonderland), but it was a doozy. Let’s hope Peculiar Children can put a fresh spin on the tired “you’re so special” narrative, or at the very least, mock it openly like an old Burton movie would.
Final Thoughts on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Based on this trailer, I’d say I was cautiously optimistic about this one. If it doesn’t devolve into CGI-packed YA nonsense by the third act, this should be pretty watchable. At the very least, I’m hoping for a little bite, a little bit of anti-establishment poking through. But barring that, at least we won’t get Johnny Depp doing wacky voices behind a mouth full of fake teeth.