Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

You can see why director Tim Burton was attracted to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, although let’s presume the allure stemmed more from the offbeat novel by Ransom Riggs than the screenplay for his big-screen adaptation.

Still, the material gives the venerable filmmaker a playground to exercise his affinity for fantastical imagery and macabre themes. And that sense of visual playfulness elevates an otherwise uneven coming-of-age adventure about monsters and time portals and resourceful kiddos caught in the middle.

For example, Jake (Asa Butterfield) is a precocious teenager who shares a bond with his grandfather, Abe (Terence Stamp), and his penchant for telling strange stories about his childhood spent at a remote Welsh house of misfits during World War II.

After Abe dies, Jake’s father (Chris O’Dowd) takes him to Wales to learn more, unaware of the real truth behind the titular estate owned the shapeshifting by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) and populated by children of varying ages who are still living in 1943, thanks to the owner’s time manipulation.

Each of the residents has their own special power, including Emma (Ella Purnell), who takes an interest in the socially awkward Jake. Then he discovers his own ability — passed down from Abe — that could be key in saving the home from unscrupulous outsiders.

The film works best in smaller segments that emphasize the unique quirks of the characters and their eccentric world filled with equal doses of hope and despair, set amid a wartime backdrop. Too often, however, it turns into an exercise in style over substance that tries to conform to expectations — maybe as an intended franchise starter — rather than stand out.

Given that the screenplay was adapted by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass), who has written two X-Men sequels, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the super-powered “peculiars” often feel like junior X-Men (at a sort-of Hogwarts) as they draw closer to an obligatory showdown against a formidable villain and his henchmen.

On a broader scale, the script becomes convoluted and confusing, and doesn’t generate much emotional investment when it concentrates on Jake’s inner conflict, which tears his loyalties between his past and his future.

Miss Peregrine features some seamless old-school special effects that provide a spark. Yet while it’s both creepy and compelling on the surface, the hollow film overall doesn’t match the ambition of its peculiar premise.

Rated PG-13, 127 minutes.