Director: Tim Burton

Running time: 2 hours

Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Elle Purnell, Samuel L Jackson, Judi Dench, Terence Stamp, Rupert Everett, Chris O’Dowd.

A group of special powered children stay hidden in a time loop in a Welsh village and Jacob (Asa Butterfield) follows the trail to meet them after believing his grandfathers bedtime stories are maybe true. Tim Burtons finger prints are light enough to allow the books material to shine for itself. A great supporting cast surround the children and make this movie something special but maybe not as X-men like as I expected. I really really enjoyed this film. Eva Green, Samuel L Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Chris O’Dowd and Terence Stamp show that it’s something worth their time in a mix of the magical hidden in the mundane. This could’ve been Pans Labyrinth in different hands yet I was left with more questions than answers where some characters were concerned which makes me want a sequel. It’s actually quite scary in places due to the eyeball eating Hollowghasts and the odd swear thrown in but that puts it alongside the Harry Potter series. Having read the book which includes intermittent photos from Jacob’s grandfather, I felt the film merged that aspect well as it also uses photo images to entice the boy into a world of wonder. 

Wonderful childlike escapism. 

C Whitehouse 2016