Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2016

As Florida teenager Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) trudged through the monotony of his daily routine, a sudden phone call shattered the tranquility of his existence. The voice on the other end was that of his grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp), whose panicked tone sent a shiver down Jake’s spine. With a sense of trepidation, Jake hastily made his way to Abe’s residence, accompanied by his supervisor Shelley (O-Lan Jones). As they approached the old man’s house, an unsettling sight awaited them: a sinister figure with glowing white eyes (Samuel L. Jackson) lurking menacingly in the road. The ominous atmosphere only intensified as they entered the ransacked abode, where Jake discovered his grandfather’s flashlight, smeared with the telltale signs of violence.

Abe lay lifeless on the ground, his vacant gaze a stark reminder of the brutal fate that had befallen him. In a faint whisper, he conveyed a dire warning to Jake, whose mind reeled in shock and confusion. The sudden loss was compounded by Shelley’s inability to perceive the monstrous creature closing in behind her, despite Jake’s frantic attempts to alert her to the danger.

As Jake struggled to process the trauma of his grandfather’s passing, he sought solace in the counsel of Dr. Golan (Allison Janney), a psychologist with an uncanny ability to unravel the mysteries of his troubled mind. Despite the official autopsy report indicating Abe had succumbed to natural causes, Jake sensed that something more sinister was at play.

A poignant flashback transported Jake back to his idyllic childhood, where he would sit enthralled by his grandfather’s fantastical tales of encountering the bizarre and unexplained. Abe regaled him with stories of a mystical group home, run by the enigmatic Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), an Englishwoman with an aura of mystery surrounding her. The children in her care possessed extraordinary abilities, which she carefully cultivated within their sanctuary.

Jake’s aunt presented him with a treasured book from Abe, containing a postcard from Miss Peregrine, inviting him to revisit the mystical world he had grown up hearing about. Her island refuge, Cairnholm, was nestled in Wales, beckoning Jake to embark on a journey of self-discovery and uncover the secrets hidden within its ancient walls. With Dr. Golan’s encouragement, Jake finally persuaded his parents to permit him to visit Miss Peregrine, setting him on a path that would unravel the tangled threads of his grandfather’s mysterious fate.

As Jake embarks on this journey with his father Franklin (Chris O’Dowd), who harbored a complicated past with Abe, their relationship is put to the test. The two spot a peregrine falcon soaring overhead, prompting Jake to jest that it must be Miss Peregrine herself, so he ventures a call in her direction. Upon arriving at the mystical island, they take up residence at an ancient pub, which also serves as a sanctuary of sorts. Franklin then commissions two local lads to guide Jake to the specific location on the island where he hopes to uncover answers. However, upon arrival, Jake discovers that the home has been ravaged by time, leaving him disillusioned and convinced that Miss Peregrine and her wards are nothing more than a distant memory.

The following day, Jake returns to the abandoned homestead, only to find himself face-to-face with a group of enigmatic children. Panic sets in as he makes a hasty retreat, which ultimately leads to an unexpected tumble, leaving him unconscious. He awakens to find himself being borne along by Bronwyn (Pixie Davies), a pint-sized powerhouse endowed with extraordinary strength. As Jake regains his bearings, he’s introduced to the fantastical youngsters Abe had spoken of - Emma (Ella Purnell), an air manipulator forced to don lead shoes to prevent her from drifting away; Olive (Lauren McCrostie), a pyrokinetic prodigy; Hugh (Milo Parker), a young boy whose very being is inhabited by a colony of bees; Millard (Cameron King), an invisible entity; and the masked twins, Joseph and Thomas Odwell. The children guide Jake through a labyrinthine cave system, but his innate trepidation prompts him to make another hasty exit.

As Jake returns to the pub, he finds it bustling with patrons. The proprietor is uncooperative, suspecting Jake of being a spy. Just as things seem dire, the peculiar children arrive on the scene, intervening to extricate Jake from this predicament. It’s then that he comes to realize he’s trapped in the 1943 loop, forever doomed to relive the same moment until he finds a way to break free.

As Jake’s introduction to the enigmatic world of peculiars unfolds, he is ushered into the presence of the illustrious Miss Peregrine herself. Her entourage includes Fiona (Georgia Pemberton), whose verdant prowess allows her to coax plants into submission; Claire (Raffiella Chapman), whose posterior mouth whispers secrets only she can hear; Horace (Hayden Keeler-Stone), whose prophetic slumber yields visions of the future; and Enoch (Finlay McMillan), whose macabre talent for reanimating skeletal puppets with tiny, beating hearts sends shivers down Jake’s spine. Notably, Enoch’s possessive nature is piqued by Emma, a peculiarity he shares with Jake, but their affections are complicated by Emma’s lingering feelings for the absent Abe.

Miss Peregrine enlightens Jake regarding the peculiars’ temporal predicament: they are trapped in a temporal loop, reliving September 3rd, 1943, as German bombers prepare to unleash destruction upon their sanctuary. With each iteration, Miss Peregrine skillfully resets the clock, propelling them back to the safety of 24 hours prior. Outside the loop, time moves forward, and the peculiars’ years will eventually catch up with them, resulting in mortality.

As Jake joins the peculiars for dinner, they are treated to a cinematic spectacle courtesy of Horace’s prophetic dreams, which unfold like a series of surreal films. They witness a woman (Judi Dench) being spirited away by nefarious forces and a tender moment between Jake and Emma that leaves everyone in an awkward silence. After the show, Miss Peregrine leads the group outside to illustrate the loop’s mechanism as German planes soar overhead, dropping bombs that she promptly resets, transporting them back to September 2nd.

As night descends, Jake follows Emma into the cave, bombarding her with questions about the peculiars’ mystical existence and their temporal predicament. Emma tactfully deflects certain queries, leaving Jake with more enigmas than answers. A bird suddenly crashes into the cave wall, prompting Emma to tend to its wounded form.

Upon returning to meet his father, Jake is summoned by a distressed farmer whose flock has been decimated. They retreat to the local pub, where Jake discovers a cryptic letter penned by Abe (warning Miss Peregrine about the insidious Mr. Barron and urging her to create a new loop forthwith).

As the sun rises over the beach, Jake and Franklin stumble upon an ornithologist (Rupert Everett) engaged in a fervent search for rare birds, his keen eye scanning the horizon with the intensity of a scientist on the cusp of a groundbreaking discovery. This encounter sets the stage for a morning that will unravel a tangled web of secrets and lies.

Jake’s curiosity gets the better of him as he slips away from Franklin’s watchful gaze to return to the mysterious homestead. There, he finds Miss Peregrine tending to an injured bird, only to reveal its true form: none other than Miss Avocet, an Ymbryne identical to Miss Peregrine herself. Jake presses her for answers about Barron, but she remains tight-lipped, shrouded in a veil of mystery.

As the morning wears on, Jake crosses paths with Enoch and Olive, their faces set with a mix of solemnity and mischief. It is Enoch who leads Jake to the eerie room where Victor (Louis Davison), Bronwyn’s brother, lies motionless, his eyes replaced by an unsettling silence. The reanimated corpse serves as a ghastly warning, its jerky movements sending shivers down Jake’s spine.

Emma, ever the enigmatic guide, whisks Jake away to her secret hideout: a sunken ship buried beneath the waves. She crafts an air bubble around them, then blows out the water, revealing the underwater lair in all its eerie glory. Within this strange sanctum, Emma reveals a collection of photographs featuring pale-eyed individuals, including Barron himself - a name that resonates with Jake as he recalls the sinister figure lurking outside Abe’s home on the fateful night of his friend’s demise.

As they make their way back to the homestead, Emma leads Jake to a spot where Miss Peregrine is pacing with her crossbow at the ready. A chalk outline of a creature materializes before them, and an eyeless monstrosity emerges from the shadows - visible only to Jake’s peculiar gaze. With precision and calm, Miss Peregrine dispatches the beast with an arrow, its body crashing onto the chalk outline. Emma realizes that Jake’s peculiarity lies not in his ability to see these creatures, but in his capacity to perceive them.

Back at the homestead, Emma presents Miss Peregrine with her book, a tome filled with secrets and ancient lore. The truth begins to unravel: Barron and his cohorts are Hollowgasts (or simply “Hollows”), a malevolent force of Peculiars that prey on their own kind in a desperate bid for eternal life. This dark organization has been fueled by an insidious desire to consume the eyes of Peculiars, allowing them to return to their human forms.

As the children sit vigil around Miss Avocet’s bedside, her Ymbryne powers slowly reclaiming her true form, Miss Peregrine faces a daunting reality: Barron’s relentless pursuit will not cease until the children are safely ensconced in a new home and loop. With a heavy heart, she makes the difficult decision to abandon their current sanctuary and embark on a perilous journey in search of a safer haven.

As Jake stumbles back onto the beach, he’s met with an anxious Franklin, whose concerns are soon overshadowed by a gruesome discovery: the lifeless body of a wheelchair-bound man, his eyes brutally excised from their sockets. Fleeing the scene, Jake is pursued into the cave by the ornithologist, only to be confronted by Barron, who seamlessly transforms into Dr. Golan before revealing his true identity. With a menacing grin, Barron morphs his hand into a deadly blade, holding it perilously close to Jake’s throat as he demands obedience.

As Jake is forced to comply with Barron’s demands, Miss Peregrine appears, sensing the imminent threat and wisely ordering the children to retreat for their own safety. Recognizing that Jake’s unique ability to perceive the Hollows makes him their sole lifeline, she implores him to vow to protect the youngsters should anything happen to her. With a heavy heart, Jake agrees, and as Barron prepares to capture Miss Peregrine in her bird form, Jake and Miss Avocat work tirelessly to conceal the children from the impending Hollow assault.

In a poignant moment, Jake answers an unexpected phone call from Abe in 1943, lamenting his inability to be a better grandson. As the children huddle together, waiting for the Hollow’s arrival, they are suddenly interrupted by Miss Avocet, who is inexplicably drawn through a wall by the very same Hollow.

With the stakes higher than ever, Jake leads the children to safety while fumbling with Miss Peregrine’s crossbow in a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful effort to repel the Hollow. Just as all hope seems lost, the German plane drops its payload, obliterating the Hollow and shattering the loop once and for all, rendering it impossible for the children to ever return to that fateful home.

As the dust settles, the children rally together to raise Emma’s ship to the surface, setting their sights on the Blackpool Tower, where another loop awaits. With Jake and Emma now aware that killing Barron in this new timeline may prevent Abe’s eventual demise, they converge on the pier, navigating a haunted house where the Hollows are poised to conduct their sinister experiment with Miss Peregrine and other Ymbrynes.

As Jake and Emma cleverly lure some of the Hollows outside toward the pier, the stage is set for an epic showdown that will determine not only the fate of this particular loop but also the very course of events yet to come.

As the Hollows converge on the pier, the children of Camp Hercules spring into action. With an arsenal of creative projectiles at their disposal, they launch a spirited counterattack against their supernatural foes. Enoch, ever the mastermind, conjures forth a trio of skeletal warriors to do battle with the Hollows, while Bronwyn seizes a wayward carousel horse and hurls it with precision at a particularly pesky Hollow, sending him tumbling into the icy waters below. Meanwhile, in the depths of Barron’s lair, the other children engage their foes in a fierce and fantastical struggle.

As the battle rages on, Bronwyn finds herself under threat from the male Hollow’s chilling gaze, but Fiona intervenes by showering him with seeds that germinate into vines, ensnaring him in a prison of his own making. Olive, freed from her frozen state, joins forces with Enoch to take down their adversaries, deploying an elephant puppet brought to life through sheer force of imagination to crush one particularly formidable Hollow beneath its massive weight.

In a stunning display of mystical prowess, the twins then conspire to petrify the female Hollow, rendering her as immobile as stone. As the dust settles, Enoch tenderly apologizes to Olive for his perceived indifference towards her during a moment of crisis, only to be met with a radiant smile and words of gratitude from the freed heroine.

With their foes vanquished and their bonds strengthened through shared struggle, Jake and Emma endeavor to confront Barron, but find themselves thwarted by his uncanny ability to shrug off their attacks. Undeterred, they press on, ultimately outsmarting their nemesis with a clever ruse involving the Ymbrynes’ release from their prison.

As the children prepare to depart on their vessel, bound for yet another loop within their mystical cycle, Jake must bid farewell to his newfound friends, aware that this decision will forever sever him from their lives. Yet, he finds solace in Abe’s warm reception upon returning to Florida, where he regales the elder with tales of his fantastical adventures and receives a parting gift in the form of an Emerson book overflowing with wealth.

As Jake sets out to rejoin Miss Peregrine’s flock, he discovers Emma waiting patiently on the docks, her lips poised for a tender kiss. As they embrace, the children’s ship sails into the distance, carrying their hopes and dreams towards yet another realm. Meanwhile, Miss Peregrine soars through the skies, homing in on her charges with maternal precision, before alighting upon their vessel to guide them towards their next great adventure.