ciaranjshegarty
This film is a joy to watch, so fresh, so tasty, bursting with fruity ideas and music that really make you smile to the world and make you think more about those you love and tell them so. Peace always to everyone, James you are incredible. Thank you, peach.Love Kiki xxxix
Leofwine_draca
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH is a good watch if you like seeing classic works of children's fiction being given the commercial, Walt Disney treatment: i.e. the shoehorning-in of random American characters and an incessant, action-focused narrative that barely gives you a moment to draw breath.This film was made by The Nightmare Before Christmas's Henry Selick, still riding high on the coat-tails of his successful cult feature. It's that film's inferior cousin in every respect, feeling cheap and uninteresting throughout; the characters are poorly drawn and the protagonist unsympathetic, so it's very hard to like the film at all. It might look like Dahl's original book, but it has none of the magic or atmosphere.I always enjoy seeing stop motion animation wherever it appears, but it does look very cheap here - among the cheapest I've seen. It's no surprise that half the film takes place (boringly) in live action, as they ran out of budget for the animation. On the plus side we get a Pete Postlethwaite cameo, but on the minus side we get Joanna Lumley and Miriam Margoyles hamming it up in the worst pantomime tradition. The worst voice actor of the plot? Richard Dreyfuss, who wouldn't understand restraint if it bit him on the backside.
angelofvic
This classic from the classic 1961 children's novel by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) was created and directed by Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) in 1995, five years after Dahl's death. Dahl had refused numerous film proposals for the book, but his widow approved this one. Selick's plan was to make either the insect companions or the entire film stop-motion animation, but due to budgetary concerns, the film is approximately 1/3 live action time-wise, and completely stop-motion animation during the peach journey adventure, which works just fine. Newcomer Paul Terry does a fine job as James, both in the live acting and the voice-work. However Joanna Lumley should definitely be indicted for and convicted of scene theft, if not film theft, as one of James's two vicious aunts. The stop-motion insects are voiced by Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, David Thewlis, and (my favorite) Susan Sarandon as a mysterious Spider. In the live-action part, Pete Postlethwaithe has an important role. I have not read the original much-loved and much-revered (especially in the UK) novel, so I cannot comment on the film's faithfulness. However, as an adult I found the film cute, interesting, enjoyable, and entertaining -- and at 79 minutes it never palls. It's a film that can and will be enjoyed by viewers of all ages, so it's excellent for multiple generations and thus, for instance, holiday and other family gatherings.
Various_Things
I first saw this soon after it first came out, when I was about 11 or 12. I was really disappointed in it then - I couldn't get over all the changes from the book.Fifteen or so years later, I've rewatched it, having become familiar with Henry Selick's other work. And this time I really enjoyed it.The animation is high quality, despite being less ambitious than Selick's two other major films (the animated parts of James and the Giant Peach make up a film only about half the length of Coraline, and there aren't any of the huge crowds of characters that filled The Nightmare Before Christmas).The songs, however, are nowhere near as good as those of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The less said about James' solo song at the start of the film the better. The only really good song in the movie also happens to be the only one that takes its lyrics from a rhyme in Dahl's book.Now that this film has surprised me by being better than I remembered, despite its big changes from the book, perhaps I should give Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory another chance to do the same...
AD
