Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (PG-13)
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Caution: potential spoilers.

Tim Burton directed this 2016 adaptation of the novel of the same name (which I haven't read). I liked the movie, but on paper I should have liked it a lot more than I did. It has all sorts of weird and whimsical elements, an interesting premise, great visuals, etc. And to be fair, there were parts of the film I liked more than others, but not too much more. I want to say before starting my review, I wasn't sure whether I'd list it under "fantasy" or "weird", but I ultimately went with the latter, in large part because that's where I had previously listed it on my "things I want to see". Anyway, I do think it's a decent movie, I enjoyed it, I'm just a bit disappointed that I didn't enjoy it more.

There's an American teenager named Jake Portman, whose grandfather Abe has always told him stories about a home for children with peculiar abilities, which Abe had spent some time at in his youth. He also told Jake about monsters. But Jake's parents don't believe in any of these fantastic stories. One night, Abe is mysteriously killed and his eyes are removed by whoever (or whatever) did it. Just before dying, he gives Jake some cryptic instructions. Following Abe's death, Jake's parents take him to see a psychiatrist named Dr. Golan (Allison Janney), who encourages Jake's desire to take a trip with his father to the Welsh island where the children's home was located. She suggests it will help him distinguish fantasy from reality.

Soon after arriving on the island of Cairnholm, Jake goes to find the home, and it turns out it had been destroyed by a German bomb in 1943. But he sees some strange children spying on him, and follows them to a sort of cave, which serves as a portal into a "loop" created by Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), the home's headmistress, on the day that the bomb dropped. So ever since then, she and all the children in her care have relived the same day over and over. Some of the children Jake meets there are a teenager named Emma, who is lighter than air and would float away without her lead shoes; a teenager named Enoch, who can bring inanimate objects to life; a teenager named Olive with pyrokinetic powers; an invisible boy named Millard, and various younger children with an assortment of peculiarities about them. The children are called "Peculiars", and Miss Peregrine is a Ymbryne, who can turn into a bird and create time loops in which to keep Peculiars safe from the outside world. Jake soon grows close to Emma, which seems to upset Enoch.

Eventually, Jake learns that in the past, a group of Peculiars led by a man named Mr. Barron (Samuel L. Jackson) had attempted an experiment meant to give them eternal life, by stealing the powers of a Wmbryne, but instead the experiment turned them into monsters called Hollowgasts (or just "Hollows"), which are invisible, but can be seen by Jake. The Hollows eventually learned that they can regain at least partial humanity by eating the eyes of Peculiars. And... I dunno, a lot of other stuff happens. At one point, Mr. Barron shows up in Miss Peregrine's loop and abducts her, to make another attempt at his failed experiment. So, the children work together to free her and some other Ymbrynes, as well as kill a bunch of Hollows.

I guess that's all I want to reveal of the plot, and I already feel like I've said too much, but I've also left a lot out, I think. It really was an interesting movie, though I think there were some things that didn't make any sense, even a couple of things that contradicted each other about the logistics of how loops work. I liked the look of the CGI Hollows. And... I don't know what else to say.