5 Things Tim Burton Changed About Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

WARNING – IF YOU DON’T WANT ANY SPOILERS TO THE BOOK OR THE MOVIE,

DO NOT READ THIS ARTICLE!!!

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A lot of great books have great movie companions. One of these books is Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The story is about a boy named Jacob whose grandfather dies right before Jacob’s eyes. During his grandfather’s death, Jacob sees something horrific – a man standing in the woods with tentacles coming out of his mouth! Jacob’s grandfather’s strange last words lead him to a strange home for Peculiar children. Through the course of the story, Jacob learns a lot about the inhabitants of the home, and about himself as well. This spectacular book has a great movie spin-off, starring Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Ella Purnell, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson. For those of you who watched the movie and read the book, you may have realized that although both the book and the movie have a similar story, the movie changed a few things that you may (or may not) have noticed.

Ability Swaps – One of the more distinct differences you may have noticed was that in the book, Emma Bloom, one of the main female protagonists, has fire powers, however, in the movie, Tim Burton (the director) decided to make Emma the girl who floats instead. This was probably one of the most noticeable changes. They also gave Emma the power to manipulate air. This gives her the ability to do crazy things like creating air bubbles in water.

Boy or Girl? – Because of his grandfather’s tragic death, Jacob has to see a psychiatrist who will help Jacob recover from his trauma. In the book, the psychiatrist (Dr.Golan) is a man, but in the movie, the psychiatrist is a woman.

Dead or Alive? – In both the book and the film, a man was killed by a “wight.” In the book, Enoch uses his powers to bring him back to life and question him about who murdered him. In the movie, Jacob sees the dead man with no eyes and only presumes he got killed by a wight because of it.

Bird Power – In the ending of the movie, Miss Peregrine could change from her bird form to her human form without any problem. In the book, Miss Peregrine couldn’t change back into a human and was stuck in her bird form forever.

Jacob’s Fate – The ending of the film consists of Jacob talking to his grandfather and receiving a map from him that would allow him to reunite with his friends. The end of the book consists of Jacob ditching his father and traveling with the peculiars.

Overall, Tim Burton changed a lot of, the original story, however, if you manage to look beyond these changes, you may be able to enjoy the movie. Because of the detail changes, some critics disliked the film. What do you think? Would you call the movie a success, despite the changes made?