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Film Title: James and The Giant Peach

 Best for ages: 7 & Up

Movie Website:  Click Here

Year Released: 1996

Rated: PG (US)

The Review

   Tim Burton has produced many bizarre animated films in his career. Corpse Bride; A Nightmare Before Christmas; and of course this film James and the Giant Peach. However, most people think Burton himself directed these films because his name dons the cover of them. With the exception of Corpse Bride, all of these animated films that he has produced were directed by award-winning animation director Henry Selick.

  James and the Giant Peach is based on the popular children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl.  The film includes both live action and animation. James, a young boy who loses his parents to a giant rhinoceros who lives in a storm cloud.  After his parents' death, James is forced to live with his heartless and mean aunts who force him to live in their attic and subject him to daily hard labor.  While saving the life of a spider, he comes into possession of magic boiled crocodile tongues, after which an enormous peach starts to grow in the garden.  His aunts try to use the peach to make money, however, one night James finds himself outside where he follows a glow worm into the peach and is transformed into an animated boy. There, he meets up with a group of bugs that live in the peach and, with the help of seagulls they fly the peach to New York City so James can witness the place where his parents wanted to take him before their passing.

    I’ll be honest. I am not a very big fan of this film. I find it to be odd and bizarre.  I really never have been a fan of any of the Tim Burton-produced animation films. I think he has a  certain fan base that really enjoy these films. They have a cult following, but many of these films are not really made for young children. Don’t get me wrong. James and the Giant Peach is aimed toward kids around the age of seven and up, yet its plot is weird.  Some children may be bored with it.

    What the filmmakers try to do with this film is use the mix of animation and live action for the first half of the film.  The film's animation is all done in stop motion, with very little cartoon like animation, however it pays tribute to the live action animated films of the fifties and sixties such as Mary Poppins and Pete’s Dragon. The film also has a very good soundtrack written by Academy Award-winning composer Randy Newman.

   The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack has very little special features.  The Blu-ray Bonus features include an interactive game called “Spike the Aunts” a based on the final scene of the film.  The DVD includes a behind the scenes look at the making of the film, a music video for the song “Good News” performed by Randy Newman and the original theatrical trailer.

    James and the Giant Peach is a film that I don’t recommend for children under the age of seven. I personally am not a big fan of the film although I do admire its efforts as a story. The film itself is dark and odd and the animation and live action together just don’t work for me. I think you need to be a certain kind of person to really enjoy these films, and there are people who do, mainly teenagers. It’s a film that is dark, and it’s not something I would personally show my young kids. I’m not even sure if most seven-year-olds would enjoy it. However, it is a film that I can see teenagers with the taste for artistic animation and a knack for odd stories will enjoy.

BUY THIS MOVIE.