JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

Every time I watch James and the Giant Peach I am stumped.  I should love everything about it, yet somehow it doesn't quite work.  With Roald Dahl's story, Henry Selick's animation, Randy Newman's songs, and a star-studded cast of voices, I should love everything about this Tim Burton production.  Words like "unique", "witty", and "visually stunning" should be thrown around enthusiastically, but instead I'm left with this thought: it's kind of a mess.

James and the Giant Peach is the story of a sweet little boy whose idyllic childhood comes to an abrupt end when his parents are killed by a giant rhinoceros.  Quiet afternoons spent picnicking, looking for shapes in the clouds, and dreaming of New York City become a distant memory after he goes to live with his evil, self-absorbed relatives Aunt Sponge (Miriam Margolyes) and Aunt Spiker (Joanna Lumley).  Nothing seems to grow in their dark and dreary corner of the world, and poor James is so lonely that he sometimes bonds with the bugs he finds creeping around.

Everything changes when a mysterious man appears in the garden with a sack of magic green seeds.  He promises that they will make life infinitely better for James, but the poor kid spills them before he has a chance to find out.  They squiggle into the ground and vanish under the peach tree, but all is not lost: a giant peach grows among the bare branches—a peach that really will change his life.

Though his aunts do their best to exploit the peach, James' luck takes a turn for the better when he tunnels inside and meets a motley group of giant bugs.  Soon the peach is rolling down Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker's hill, and James and his friends set off into the world.  Songs are sung, danger is faced, and the Atlantic Ocean is crossed, ultimately bringing James to his happy ending.  We even run into our pal Jack Skellington along the way.

There are many striking moments in James and The Giant Peach, but somehow they don't form a cohesive whole.  We shift from live action, to stop-motion animation, to some sort of collage animation reminiscent of an Eric Carle creation.  The musical numbers feel random, and perhaps there's not quite enough story to fill all 79 minutes of a feature film.  The end result is a rather dark and uneven take on a story I remember as witty and fanciful.

Blu-Ray Extras include the "Spike the Aunts" interactive game, a making of featurette, Randy Newman's "Good News" music video, a still frame gallery, and the original theatrical trailer.