Tim Burton’s latest is a peculiarly slow and surprisingly flat build up to a rip-roaring final few minutes (with more than a nod to Ray Harryhausen and the 1963 Jason & the Argonauts).
Asa Butterfield (Hugo, Ender’s Game) finds himself in a mystery that stretches across time – and September 1943 in particular – that involves his grandfather. The bizarre and peculiar of Ransom Riggs’ novel should have been the perfect fit for the director responsible for, among others, The Corpse Bride and Edward Scissorhands. Yet Burton’s macabre and sinister imagination seems to have left him – resulting in dull tedium.
Rating: 30%
An Opinion or Two 