James and the Giant Peach (1996)

Starring Paul Terry, Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss, and Miriam Margolyes.  Cinematography by Pete Kozachik and Hiro Narita.  Edited by Stan Webb.  Produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi. Written by Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, and Steve Bloom.  Directed by Henry Selick.

James (played by Paul Terry) and his parents (played by Steven Culp and Susan Turner-Cray) live an idealistic life together on the shore. One day, while having a family outing, a rhinoceros comes out of the clouds and wipes James’ parents out. He is sent off to live with his evil and disgusting aunts (played by Joanna Lumley and Miriam Margolyes) where he is belittled on every occasion as their new makeshift slave.

One day and old man (played by Pete Postlethwaite) gives James a bag full of magical crocodile tongues. James accidentally spills the bag and the tongues find their way into an old peach tree just outside his aunts’ house.  The next morning James discovers that the magic has produced a giant peach in the front yard.

James finds his way into the center of the peach where he meets a band of bugs (played by Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, Susan Sarandon, David Thewlis, and Miriam Margolyes) and their adventure together begins. The peach goes into motion and acts as a vessel as it takes the new group of friends across the ocean to America, where James can truly find his freedom.

James and the Giant Peach is the second film from the collective minds of Tim Burton and Henry Selick, and is shot with a stop motion animation style similar to that used in A Nightmare Before Christmas.  The story is based on the classic children’s book by Roald Dahl. Dahl, the author of stories such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Witches, has always mixed the macabre into his children’s stories giving them an edge that is not very common in their demographic.  With some pretty frightening imagery and themes, parents might want to think twice before sharing James and the Giant Peach with their young ones.

The film isn’t bad, but it’s no A Nightmare Before Christmas.  The first twenty minutes and the last five minutes are all live action which is shot and acted pretty blandly.  The animation sequences are absolutely amazing, but somewhere in the middle the story starts to get a bit tedious.  The seventy nine minutes begin to creep by and I found myself checking my watch more frequently towards the end.

But the film has hints of what it takes to make a cult classic, so I wouldn’t expect it to fade away from the public eye any time soon.  If you’ve got yourself some kids, you probably ought to treat them, and yourself, to a viewing.

Budget: $38,000,000

Total US Gross: $28,946,127

Genre: Musical

Runtime: 79 Minutes

US Release Date: 4/12/96

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Awards:

Academy Awards: 
Nominated for best comedy or musical score. 

Tagline: Adventures This Big Don’t Grow On Trees.

Quote: “He's committed pesticide!”