REVIEW: JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH (1996)
Scott Marcus
A film review by Scott Marcus
Copyright 1996 Scott Marcus
Cast: Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Pete Postlewaithe, David
Thewlis (voice), Simon Callow (voice), Glynis Johns (voice),
Susan Sarandon (voice)
Writers: Roald Dahl (based on his book), Steven Bloom, Karey
Kirkpatrick, Dennis Potter, Jonathan Roberts
Producers: Tim Burton, Denise Di Novi, Jake Eberts, John Engel, Brian
Rosen, Henry Selick
Director: Henry Selick
Running Time: 80 minutes
Grade: C+
One word review: innocuous. As a children's movie, JAMES AND THE GIANT
PEACH works. It shouldn't be either too frightening or too complex for
even little kids to enjoy. For adults, however, the film is too
simplistic. Some of the animation sequences are striking, but the
story and the characters don't really develop enough to be interesting
to adults.
I wanted to like this movie, but the problem was that my expectations
were probably a little high. I went in expecting a film more akin to
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. The only thing in JAMES AND THE GIANT
PEACH that is close to being as good as in NIGHTMARE is the
stop-motion animation, and that is not enough to carry the entire
movie, especially since only about 1/2 the film is done this way.
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is based on the children's story by
Roald Dahl. We see James, the progagonist, in both live-action and
animated versions. The story follows his escape from his nasty
aunts, Aunt Spiker (Joanna Lumley) and Aunt Sponge (Miriam Margolyes),
into a - what else - giant peach. He and his new friends - a bunch of
giant bugs - head off for New York. Their adventures on this journey
comprise the majority of the film.
The dark characterizations and satire that made NIGHTMARE work on an
adult level are not present in this film. Also, Randy Newman will
never be confused with Danny Elfman. The music in JAMES is too
schmaltzy, and doesn't have the edge that Elfman's score provided to
NIGHTMARE. The music is instantly forgettable, and adds nothing to the
film. On a positive note, Newman writes great elevator music.
All of Tim Burton's films have a darkness to them that makes them
interesting. This film lacks that vision, and seems to show us a
kinder, gentler Burton - a well-adjusted, but boring Burton.
The best sequence in the film takes place underwater, when events take
a dark turn. There's a character very reminiscent of Jack Skellington
(from NIGHTMARE), which is perhaps why I enjoyed this scene. If the
rest of the film had the same bite, it would have been a more
interesting experience.
My recommendation is to find a neighbor, baby sitter, or favorite aunt
to take the kiddies to see JAMES, while the adults stay home and watch
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS on the VCR. Grade: C+.
Review written 14 April, 1996
Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: This is a film that is creative and
bizarre, but curiously off-center and unengaging.
Disney Studios and Tim Burton bring Roald Dahl's
off-beat children's fantasy about a fantastic
trans-Atlantic peach flight to the screen. The
film seems to be trying to recapture some of the
originality that THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
had. However, Caroline Thompson's hand is sadly
missed in the writing, and the Randy Newman score
lacks the energy that Danny Elfman would have given
it. There is nothing memorable at all about the
songs. JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is more a
curiosity than an entertainment. Rating: 0 (-4 to
+4)
Tim Burton makes two types of films. One type has plots that are
concatenations of really odd scenes, strong on visual composition, but
without much story to glue the scenes together. His other type of
films are the ones written by Caroline Thompson. Thompson has a way of
sewing together weird images into a story that has emotional impact.
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is an attempt to follow up the excellent THE
NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS with another weird animation piece. Perhaps
this time Thompson was off directing her terrific adaptation of BLACK
BEAUTY. Or perhaps producer Burton may have felt he did not need
Thompson's story since he was adapting a book by Roald Dahl and only
needed to turn it into a script. In any case her hand is sorely missed
in this film of an animated boy and friends who seem to be magical
giant versions of garden "pests."
Watching the film, the viewer is never quite sure where the plot
is going in this story with its plot turns that border on a psychedelic
dream with a slight fairy tale quality. As the story opens, James is a
very contented and well-adjusted little live-action boy. He is living
happily with his loving parents who promise to take him from England to
see New York City. Then they are suddenly eaten by a mysterious
mystical rhinoceros. James is forced to go live with his two aunts,
overly-painted grotesques who seem to hate children and garden pests
about equally. James, on the other hand, rather likes spiders and
other creepy- crawlies. His aunts feed him on fish heads and place him
in virtual slavery while they sit around each day admiring themselves
and finding ways to make James more miserable. Luckily, however, a
mysterious man gives James some magical green glowing crocodile tongues
which when accidentally dropped cause a tree to sprout a peach the size
of a house. (I'm really not making this up, you know!) When the peach
opens a hole, James goes in and turns into an animated boy who meets
friends who are a spider, a centipede, a grasshopper, a ladybug, and a
worm. When the peach gets loose and rolls into the sea, James is off
to try to find New York City with the enthusiastic animals he has met.
Along the way the crew has to fight dangers like mechanical sharks.
Paul Terry has the title role (well, at least the first half of
the title) and is the main character, but being a child gets eighth
billing. He gets his revenge by having absolutely no voice when called
on to sing, though he does just fine in the acting scenes. Top billing
goes to major actors who voiced the animated creatures in the peach,
not that they are really there for anything but marquee value. The
voices are Simon Callow as the erudite Grasshopper; Richard Dreyfuss as
the cigar-chomping, low-brow centipede; Jane Leeves as the Ladybug;
Susan Sarandon as the resourceful spider; and David Thewlis (of NAKED
and RESTORATION) as the Earthworm. The writing gives none of these
creatures much personality beyond funny voices and only the most
threadbare of characterizations. A little better characterization goes
to Joanna Lumley and Miriam Margolyes as the two aunts, though that is
perhaps because we get to see them in live-action. Also a cameo role
goes to Jack Skellington, the main character of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE
CHRISTMAS.
The film does better with its visualization than it does with its
story, but those who were hoping for the detailed careful work of THE
NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS will be disappointed. The animation in that
film was a genuine tour-de-force, with something interesting happening
in just about every corner of the screen in nearly every frame. There
were a lot of throw-away humor and clever ideas in the animation that
is just missing from the animation scenes here. The live-action scenes
have some very nice stylized sets. Even in the animation scenes there
is a great variety of visual styles from scene to scene. Be warned
there is a lot in this film that younger children may find frightening.
There is a lot that the adults in the audience will find unusual, but
much of it just does not quite work. (Be aware there is one more
bizarre little final scene for those who sit though the credits.)
The story of JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is unusual and creative,
often a stylistic plus, but here there just is not very much to chew on
in the story and nobody to really care about. It is hard to imagine
that the loss that James suffers at the beginning of the film is in any
degree offset by what James gains in the course of the film. The
story, which I am told varies a great deal from the book, just is not a
very good one. I rate this film, on the basis of some of the more
interesting visuals, a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@lucent.com
Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros
(Beuna Vista)
Directed by Henry Selick
Written by Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, and Steve Bloom
based on the book by Roald Dahl
Cast Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margoyles, Pete
Postlethwaite; and the voices of Richard Dreyfuss, Susan
Sarandon, Simon Callow, David Thewlis, and Jane Leeves
MPAA Rating "G"
Running Time 80 minutes
Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh, NC (12APR96)
==
Flying rhinos, enchanted crocodile tongues, and one very large
piece of fruit. It's all business as usual for Roald Dahl, whose 1961
children's book has been brought to partially-animated life by director
Henry Selick (THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS) and producer Tim Burton
(same). Book-ended by extended live-action segments, the pit of this
PEACH is a plum of a stop-motion story about a boy's adventure with
several human-sized insects. (They are enlarged along with the peach.)
The animation is dazzling, the voices are well-cast, and the humor is
very droll. (Says one bug of another, "he's committing pesticide!") Too
bad the story drags. The ending is also a wash, and the songs, by Randy
Newman, sound like, well, songs by Randy Newman. Of course, it's not
every day that we get to hear Richard Dreyfuss and Simon Callow
performing showtunes together! (The former's musical range has
marginally improved since MR. HOLLAND'S ANUS.) Speaking of Freud, adults
should wholly enjoy the many darker aspects-- and psychological
possibilities-- of this story, even as they fidget, even as their kids
don't.
Grade: B
--
Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC
leg...@nando.net (h) - leg...@unx.sas.com (w)
Visit me in MOVIE HELL <URL http://www.n-vision.com/hell/>
Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Producer Tim Burton and director Henry Selick team up again as
they did for 1993's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Their latest film
called JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH features their claymation, as known as
stop-action, images that are their trademark. This time their vision
is exuberant and only infrequently morose. Here, as in THE WIZARD OF
OZ, the show begins and ends in a more traditional present. Roald
Dahl's book as adapted by Steven Bloom, Karey Kirkpatrick, Dennis
Potter, and Jonathan Roberts has the start and end as live action parts
but with sets surreal and Dickensian.
James Henry Trotter (voice and in person by Paul Terry) is a happy
English lad who lives an idyllic life with his parents by the seashore.
On day a rhinoceros eats his parents, and he is taken in by his wicked
Aunt Sponge (Miriam Margolyes) and Aunt Spiker (Joanna Lumley). They
treat him miserably, but his salvation is a Giant Peach that grows in
their yard. With a little advice from an old man played by Pete
Postlethwaite, he manages to use the peach to get to New York.
One day he crawls inside the peach and is transformed into a
claymation figure. Inside he meets a great bunch of bugs. The
Grasshopper (voice by Simon Callow) is an intellectual, The Ladybug
(voice by Glynis Johns) is a sweet older lady, The Spider (voice by
Susan Sarandon) is reserved and misunderstood, The Earthworm (voice by
David Thewlis) feels like he is always being used, and the best one of
all, The Centipede (voice by Richard Dreyfuss), is laugh central. At
first, James tells his new collection of friends, "I can't remember
what fun is for," but soon he is into the swing of things.
At first the cinematography (Hiro Narita) is full of harsh and
garish colors of purple, rose, and steel blues. As the jocular main
part of the film picks up, the cinematography (Pete Kozachik) makes an
abrupt transition and the colors switch to rich and lush oranges and
blues.
The show is more than just fantastical sights like the giant
mechanical shark that attacks them. It also has a plot and a clever
boy to guide it. What would you do if a shark attached your giant
peach? James and his companions figure out a way to lasso a flock of
seagulls. Bet you didn't think of that one! His secret is that, "When
I have a problem, my mom and dad taught me to look at it another way."
Amazing. A show where parents are the good guys and even have advice
worth pondering and even remembering.
The script is not only clever but funny. When asked about his
alleged navigating knowledge as a world traveler, The Centipede
confesses his experience is not much, "but I did live between two pages
of The National Geographic." Later he tells his fellow bugs, "Why
don't skeletons play music in church? Because they got no organs."
The show is full of musical numbers (Randy Newman), and this is
the weakest part of the film. They are not especially good, and Paul
Terry's voice is wonderful as James, but too weak and harsh for
singing. The musical numbers are quite slow and may bore some of the
more antsy kids in the audience.
This movie may not make headlines among all of the adults, but I
predict it will among the kids. As the reporter in the show says,
"Stop the presses. I got a new front page. Big Bugs in The Big
Apple."
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH runs just 1:20. It is rated PG for some
potentially scary images of charging rhinos and creepy skeletons. I
was in a large audience and none of the kids seemed the least bit
scared; nevertheless, it could frighten kids under 5. Jeffrey and his
friend Sam, both almost 7, both liked the film and were never scared.
Like the much better TOY STORY, this film is highly imaginative and
willing to take lots of risks. It should inspire creativity and joy in
kids of all ages so I recommend it to everyone and award it ***.
______________________________________________________________________
**** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film.
*** = Excellent show. Look for it.
** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable.
* = Poor show. Don't waste your money.
0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: April 13, 1996
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.5
Alternative Scale: *** out of ****
United States, 1996
U.S. Release Date: 4/12/96 (wide)
Running Length: 1:20
MPAA Classification: PG (Scary situations)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margoyles, Pete Postlethwaite;
and the voices of Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Simon Callow,
David Thewlis, and Jane Leeves
Director: Henry Selick
Producers: Denise Di Novi and Tim Burton
Screenplay: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, and Steve Bloom based
on the book by Roald Dahl
Cinematography: Pete Kozachik and Hiro Narita
Music: Randy Newman
U.S. Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Almost everything that was true of 1993's NIGHTMARE BEFORE
CHRISTMAS holds for 1996's JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. Based (rather
faithfully) on Roald Dahl's children's story, this movie uses a
combination of live-action sequences and stop-motion animation to tell
the tale of a lonely boy, James (Paul Terry), who finds love during a
bizarre, transatlantic voyage in the innards of a gargantuan peach. His
companions on the journey are a grasshopper, a centipede, a spider, an
earthworm, a glow worm, and a ladybug. In the hands of Henry Selick,
who directed NIGHTMARE, this weird story has been transformed into a
playful, visually arresting experience with more than a few allusions to
THE WIZARD OF OZ.
In this case, the destination isn't Oz, but New York City, which,
as envisioned by Selick, is a magical, ethereal place. The story takes
place during an era when the Empire State Building is the world's
tallest building, and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH becomes the second movie
to place an overgrown object at its pinnacle. Between England (where
the story begins, with James suffering under the repressive thumbs of
two ogre-like aunts) and New York, the peach, which is propelled by a
flock of harnessed birds, has an ocean splashdown and takes a detour to
frozen northern reaches.
Obviously, the primary reason to see JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is
for its visual splendor. Selick's stop-motion animation is, in its own
way, as impressive as the technological marvels of TOY STORY. JAMES'
creatures, which include insects, skeletons, birds, and a large-headed
boy, are wonderfully exaggerated, but never grotesque. The live-action
sequences, which comprise over one-third of the running length, are
filmed on intentionally-overstated sets that contribute to a surreal
atmosphere not unlike the one visited by Jeunet and Caro in DELICATESSAN
and THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Only when real actors and animated
characters interact does the visual chicanery slip up.
Of course, all but the youngest children (who could be frightened
by certain scenes) will be delighted by the film, and, as was true of
NIGHTMARE, the script is written to succeed on more than one level.
There are some deliciously wicked lines that few youngsters will get.
This crisp dialogue is delivered by the likes of Susan Sarandon (the
spider), Simon Callow (the grasshopper), David Thewlis (the earthworm),
and Richard Dreyfuss (the centipede), actors with effective vocal
presences.
Unfortunately, the film makers have decided to include several
completely forgettable musical numbers penned by Randy Newman. Not only
are these totally superfluous, but there are times when they hurt the
film's pacing. I'd like to know who made the decision that every Disney
animated film, no matter who's doing the animation, has to have a share
of songs.
Dorothy, accompanied by a dog, a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a
Cowardly Lion, followed the yellow brick road. James, along with a pack
of oversized bugs, follows his dreams. Both reach their destinations,
and, once there, discover that it's what they learned on the trip that
really matters. In the final analysis, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is
undemanding entertainment with a subtle message. While the film isn't
quite as accomplished as a TOY STORY or a BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, it's
still worth a trip to the theater, especially for those who enjoy things
that are a little unconventional.
- James Berardinelli
e-mail: bera...@bc.cybernex.net
web: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin