Although the "Dark Shadows" and "Alice in Wonderland" have not been so good in recent years, he is still the director who made "Big Fish" and "Edward Scissorhands".
He has been presenting his mysterious and weird dreams on the screen for decades, and he has never stopped fantasizing.
"Miss Pei's Fantasy Castle" (hereinafter referred to as "Miss Pei") just released on Friday, he opened a strange dream for us. Although this movie is based on a book called "Strange Orphanage", it also incorporates a lot of Tim Bolton's style and creativity.
Would you believe those weird bedtime stories told by grandparents and mom and dad? When you grow up, you may find many flaws, but as a child, would you believe that there really is a strange world?
Tim Bolton always tells us that he believes there is such a story.
The son in "Big Fish" has never believed in his father's bizarre stories, but when his father is dying, the strange characters in those stories really appear. His father becomes a big fish and swims to freedom.
And in "Miss Pei", the bedtime story told by his grandfather, he changed from convincing to doubtful. After he came to the small island of Wales, he saw the ruined little castle. He was disappointed, but after entering the time circle, He really saw such a fantasy world, and everything his grandfather said was true... a garden of birds and flowers, a mysterious old house, a girl in a blue dress, a little boy with special abilities...
Ms. Pei: The strange person who will become a bird has always been a protector. He is called the "Silver Brin".
Emma: A beautiful girl who is light enough to fly. She must wear a pair of lead shoes to walk and control the air.
Oliver: I am passionate about everything and have a "hand of flame", but in order not to hurt the innocent, sometimes I can only hide it.
Invisible Boy: Has the ability to be invisible, elusive, and loves pranks. If you see things moving but can't see people, then he is joking with you naked.
Bronwyn: It looks no different from an ordinary little girl, but has extraordinary strength.
Masked twins: The twins who always cover their faces with cloth do not release their big moves until the climax of the film.
There are also girls with big mouths on the back of their heads, boys with bees flying out of their mouths, boys who can make puppets to manipulate, boys who can project dreams into movies with their eyes...
They are the so-called "strange children", incompatible with the ordinary world, and can only live in a secluded place under the protection of "silver bushes" like Miss Pei. This place is a fairy tale-like paradise. Miss Pei created a time circle. Here, they repeat their 24-hour life and never grow up.
They have always maintained their innocence and kindness. Playing in the garden, to rescue the little squirrel that fell from the tree, and being enthusiastic and curious about the new guests.
In such a peaceful and harmless kingdom of strange children, there will always be a vicious and funny villain who wants to destroy it.
These villains used to blame the children, but because of the desire to live forever, they took the evil road, relying on the eyes of the blame children to maintain their human form. This seems to imply the real world. Everyone used to be a child. Some people grow up and still have a kingdom of innocence in their hearts, while others become evildoers under the influence of greed. Moreover, they want to deprive others of the eyes of "seeing the world" and deprive others of the right to be beautiful.
Jack enters this time circle, he wants to complete the task that his grandfather did not complete-find another time circle, protect the world of blame children. Thus, an unthinkable adventure began.
The dark and treacherous Gothic atmosphere in the first half of the film is well created. The grandfather's suspicious death, the gloomy island, the ruined old house before the war, travel through time and space from the cave and enter the magnificent fantasy world. It smells like "Pan's Labyrinth".
In fact, when I watch it, my feelings are always swaying: the horror images of the film are no less than horror movies, such as hollowed out eyes, hideous monsters (this is the scale of monster movies), and the villain who rolls his eyes. , Using bloody hearts to make puppet dolls to fight violently, as well as monsters chasing after them, and disgusting tentacles from their mouths are still scary. The setting of the time circle also has its own logic to follow; there is also the plot of German aircraft bombing, which also has anti-war meaning in it.
But the bright and bright colors, the gorgeous castle, the beautiful clothes, and the setting of these special abilities of the strange children are such a fairy tale. Later, the rebellion against the party, the skeleton war, the logic seems to be as simple as a children's movie, the villain became very mentally retarded, and the war became very trivial. If you insist on finding bugs, there seem to be a lot of them.
On the one hand, I was immersed in the fantasy world created by Bolton, attracted by those interesting settings and strange imaginations; on the other hand, I was thinking about realistic issues rationally:
Jack entered 1943 on the island in 2016 In 2016, the time circle, but this time circle was closed, which means that he disappeared on this time line in 2016. What about his father? What should I do if my father is swollen? I can't find him, right? They changed history after entering another time circle. Grandfather did not die. He embarked on a global journey to find strange children. The film ended when he found the broken ship and kissed Emma. What about the parents in the real world? Does he really want the real world... (Oh, am I worried too much?)
Then I thought, in fact, Tim Bolton was playing seriously!
Speaking of horror, isn’t everyone afraid of horror stories and want to hear them when they were young? The bedtime story my grandmother told me was that a big bad wolf would secretly chew on a child's toes at night; when I was a child, the adults warned against using the moon with their fingers, and they would be cut off their ears. Moreover, the predecessors of many fairy tales are not all dark and bloody? Maybe we have grown up and have forgotten that we, as children, accept the level of terror, and just blindly want to create a children’s world that feels like a piece of sunshine.
The logic is simple, it seems that the film can also have its own explanation: in the innocent world, how can there be so many organs and tightly stitched reasoning? Everything is just a game, just like the final battle, all played in an amusement park.
Tim Bolton told a Gothic fairy tale about innocence and courage. In this story, he also became a child, enjoying himself and having fun. (In the movie, he really appeared in the amusement park, sitting in a speed car and playing)
I think the setting of the time circle is a peach blossom dream of the director. The place is as beautiful as a fairy tale. There are all kinds of strange characters and strange things happen. People there will never grow up, they will always be happy. To live.
This is a place of imagination and childlike innocence, it may be distributed in corners of the world. People don't know where it is, but it's always there.
Someone interviewed Tim Bolton and asked him: If you can live in the time circle, what day do you think it will be?
He replied mischievously: Halloween, so that I can wear those weird costumes all the time. (It's just an old kid!)
If you are fully grown up as an adult, if you are too real, this movie may not be for you.
If you have ever had a strange imagination, a dream that did not grow up, you will have fun from this movie.
As for the resonance I can get, it is Emma, because, countless times, I dreamed that I was light and could fly, just like Emma, flying out of the room window, flying to the sky, looking at the town streets and rivers below. forest. I feel very relaxed and free. The dream is so realistic and fascinating.
Although I have never flew, I still like to have such dreams.
View more about Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children reviews
