15. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, 2016

The cover of Ransom Riggs’ book Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children looks exactly like a Tim Burton movie: black and white, featuring a creepy Victorian child, and bare, bent trees in the background. The book and movie follows a young boy who discovers a group of children with paranormal abilities known as the “Peculiars,” and their time-looping caretaker who can transform into a peregrine falcon. As Miss Alma Lefay Peregrine, Eva Green has a quiet, intense presence that makes her performances hypnotic to watch. Emma Purcell, playing a girl who can manipulate air, is another highlight, her expressive, owl-like eyes convey an earnestness that drives the story forward.

In Burton’s hands, the Hollowgast villains are transformed into surreal, nightmarish creatures with pale bodies, eyeless heads, sharp teeth, and multiple pointed tongues. While the imaginative premise, peculiar characters, and Victorian mansion setting are undeniably Burtonesque, there are too many plot and pacing issues. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children feels rushed and uncaring in the emotions of what’s happening on screen, merely hitting the story beats of the YA phenomenon to set it up for future sequels.