DVD Reviews

James and the Giant Peach (Two-Disc Special Edition) – Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 12, 2010, 20:12 GMT

In an all-new digitally restored special edition from Tim Burton, the acclaimed director of Alice In Wonderland, comes the astounding film that captured the hearts of fans and critics all across the world.  Inspired by Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book, Burton, Denise Di Novi and director Henry Selick combine a fascinating mix of live-action, stop-motion animation and computer-generated special effects to create a world beyond your imagination in this new ...more

Tim Burton and Henry Selick’s stop motion follow-up to Nightmare before Christmas may not live up to the bar set by that previous picture, but it has a charm all its own.  

James (Paul Terry) has been orphaned when his parents are “eaten” by a rhino-shaped storm.  He’s sent to live with his abusive aunts Spiker (Joanna Lumley) and Sponge (Miriam Margolyes) who treat him as their slave.  He dreams of going to New York City, but those dreams are only dashed by his meager existence with his vile aunts. 

One day James meets a mysterious stranger (Pete Postlethwaite) who gives him a bag of magic crocodile tongues which are supposed to improve James’ lot in life.  On the way back to his house of horrors he drops the bag and the magical tongues fall into the ground by an old tree.  The next day the tree has sprouted a peach which grows to be an enormous size.   

James ventures into the peach and finds it inhabited by Grasshopper (Simon Callow), Centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), Ladybug (Jane Leeves), Spider (Susan Sarandon), Earthworm (David Thewlis), and Glowworm (Miriam Margolyes) all of whom have been transformed by the same magic that grew the peach. 

James too has been transformed and his new animated, talking friends end up setting off for the wonders of New York in their peach home.  

Tim Burton and Henry Selick scored a dark, stop-motion homerun with the Halloween themed Nightmare before Christmas.  They’re follow-up project turned towards quirky author Roald Dahl’s tale of a boy and his peach. 

This time around they do bookend the film with live action bits before delving into the much better stop motion animated adventures.  The live stuff is just really the setup for the fun and creativity. 

It’s a glum existence until our hero James goes inside the magic peach.  We can’t help but hold up Nightmare for comparison (we’re even treated to a cameo by Jack Skellington) and Peach loses luster in that comparison. 

Maybe it was that Burton and company felt more at home in that self created world.  I still think that Peach has much to recommend and certainly Dahl has enough darkness to satisfy Burton. 

The vocal cast is game and sounds to be having a grand time, as well as the live action actors, Terry as our hero, Postlethwaite a kindly voice but a bit dark, and Lumley and Margolyes chewing scenery with villainous, gluttonous gusto. 

The animation fares better and there are some wonderful set pieces here, the mechanical shark attack and the ghostly pirate ship stand out.  It’s a fun time for kids of all ages.  

James and the Giant Peach is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.66:1).  Special features are a bit sparse, Nightmare (again) gets all the love, and in high definition unless noted. 

A Blu-ray exclusive is the “Spike the Aunts” game, but you get a 5 minute vintage making of (standard def), a 3 minute Randy Newman music video, the 2 minute theatrical trailer (standard def), and a still gallery.  

James and the Giant Peach is not all pits, but when we look at it and Nightmare before Christmas we always give the clear lead to Jack Skellington.  That doesn’t mean that Peach should be sent to the dustbin and it has some delights within. 

Sadly, Disney also gave the attention to Nightmare as it got a much fuller special edition (though most of the content came from the laserdisc/DVD) and short shrift to James.  I still enjoy the film and am happy to see it on Blu-ray.  

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