Several movie adaptations of books written by acclaimed children's author Roald Dahl were made during his life, the most famous one being the 1971 adaptation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", entitled "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory". However, no adaptations of his 1961 story, "James and the Giant Peach", were made before this one, which was made several years after Dahl's death in 1990. I first saw this movie shortly after it came out on video, when I was ten years old and only familiar with the first little bit of the book. That was a good first viewing. Just last month, I finally read the entire book for the first time, with the intention of watching the movie again afterwards, which is just what I have done after all these years. Now that I'm completely familiar with the source material, I still think this is a good adaptation.
James Henry Trotter is a young boy who lives happily with his loving parents in England by the sea. Unfortunately, his life changes significantly for the worse when his parents are killed by a rhinoceros, and his new guardians are his horrible, abusive Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker! Now living a miserable life, he dreams of a better life in New York City, a place his parents told him about before they died. Early one morning, after saving a spider from his bug-hating aunts, he meets a mysterious man outside, who gives him a bag of magical crocodile tongues, and tells him they will make his life better! Sadly, James accidentally trips and spills them, and they go into the ground. However, after that, these magic tongues cause a giant peach to grow on a dead peach tree in the garden! Sponge and Spiker claim it to be their own and use it to make money. At night, James crawls through a hole in the peach, and in the centre, he finds a bunch of human-sized insects (Old Green Grasshopper, Miss Spider, Ladybug, Centipede, Earthworm, and Glowworm). Like James, these creatures long for a better place, so they roll the peach off the hill with James and the creatures inside! They start out on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean to New York, but many dangers await them along the way!
This successful 1996 family adventure follows the general idea of the book well, but there are quite a few differences, such as what happens to Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker when the giant peach starts rolling off their property. Some things that aren't in the book (not necessarily bad things) were added here, and some memorable parts of the original story were skipped. It would have been nice if they had included the "Cloud Men" part. Still, most of the film is entertaining, with some impressive special effects, a good combination of live action and stop-motion (with some CGI), some humour, and a rather exciting fantasy adventure for both kids and adults. Paul Terry, who plays James, didn't end up with a long film career after this movie, but was still a decent child actor. Some of the characters could have been better crafted to make them really stand out, especially some of the giant insects, though some of them provide a lot of the good humour in the film, especially the arrogant Centipede, and the Earthworm with his pessimism. One part of the film I certainly didn't care much for was the rhinoceros in the sky, but most of the scenes, whether live action or animated, are at least pretty good. With all its merits, I still can't say I agree with Siskel & Ebert's "Two thumbs up! Way up!" comment, but it is a reasonable family fantasy film, worth checking out if you're into this genre, regardless of your age.
James Henry Trotter is a young boy who lives happily with his loving parents in England by the sea. Unfortunately, his life changes significantly for the worse when his parents are killed by a rhinoceros, and his new guardians are his horrible, abusive Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker! Now living a miserable life, he dreams of a better life in New York City, a place his parents told him about before they died. Early one morning, after saving a spider from his bug-hating aunts, he meets a mysterious man outside, who gives him a bag of magical crocodile tongues, and tells him they will make his life better! Sadly, James accidentally trips and spills them, and they go into the ground. However, after that, these magic tongues cause a giant peach to grow on a dead peach tree in the garden! Sponge and Spiker claim it to be their own and use it to make money. At night, James crawls through a hole in the peach, and in the centre, he finds a bunch of human-sized insects (Old Green Grasshopper, Miss Spider, Ladybug, Centipede, Earthworm, and Glowworm). Like James, these creatures long for a better place, so they roll the peach off the hill with James and the creatures inside! They start out on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean to New York, but many dangers await them along the way!
This successful 1996 family adventure follows the general idea of the book well, but there are quite a few differences, such as what happens to Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker when the giant peach starts rolling off their property. Some things that aren't in the book (not necessarily bad things) were added here, and some memorable parts of the original story were skipped. It would have been nice if they had included the "Cloud Men" part. Still, most of the film is entertaining, with some impressive special effects, a good combination of live action and stop-motion (with some CGI), some humour, and a rather exciting fantasy adventure for both kids and adults. Paul Terry, who plays James, didn't end up with a long film career after this movie, but was still a decent child actor. Some of the characters could have been better crafted to make them really stand out, especially some of the giant insects, though some of them provide a lot of the good humour in the film, especially the arrogant Centipede, and the Earthworm with his pessimism. One part of the film I certainly didn't care much for was the rhinoceros in the sky, but most of the scenes, whether live action or animated, are at least pretty good. With all its merits, I still can't say I agree with Siskel & Ebert's "Two thumbs up! Way up!" comment, but it is a reasonable family fantasy film, worth checking out if you're into this genre, regardless of your age.