James and the Giant Peach is a beloved book by Roald Dahl, and unfortunately, the love was not mutual for the movie. Henry Selick, director of the "Nightmare Before Christmas", did some good things and some bad things with the story, luckily most were good.
James is an orphan, after his parents were killed by an escaped rhino from the zoo. He lives with his awful Aunts Spiker and Sponge. One night, a strange man gives James some magic worm-looking things (He says what they are, but it's a long list), which escape and end up going into the peach tree. A giant peach is grown, which gives his aunts the idea to charge people to see it. One night James goes into the giant peach, becomes clay animated, and meets some big bugs who have also become clay animated, and the adventure begins.
Many translations from the book don't make sense. The rhino is in the sky, and the climax of the movie has James fighting the sky rhino, which was ridiculous. The mechanical shark is also quite bizarre. The plot bounces around, never really going anywhere that's important. But with the negatives, comes the positives. This movie looks really great. The whole film is very stylish, from the dark beginning to the lively animated middle to the special effect heavy ending. James is also a likable kid, as are the bugs, so the characters are pretty good.
Overall, this is a pretty good movie, that could've been a masterpiece.
My rating: *** out of ****. 77 mins. PG for mild language.
James is an orphan, after his parents were killed by an escaped rhino from the zoo. He lives with his awful Aunts Spiker and Sponge. One night, a strange man gives James some magic worm-looking things (He says what they are, but it's a long list), which escape and end up going into the peach tree. A giant peach is grown, which gives his aunts the idea to charge people to see it. One night James goes into the giant peach, becomes clay animated, and meets some big bugs who have also become clay animated, and the adventure begins.
Many translations from the book don't make sense. The rhino is in the sky, and the climax of the movie has James fighting the sky rhino, which was ridiculous. The mechanical shark is also quite bizarre. The plot bounces around, never really going anywhere that's important. But with the negatives, comes the positives. This movie looks really great. The whole film is very stylish, from the dark beginning to the lively animated middle to the special effect heavy ending. James is also a likable kid, as are the bugs, so the characters are pretty good.
Overall, this is a pretty good movie, that could've been a masterpiece.
My rating: *** out of ****. 77 mins. PG for mild language.