Written by: Karey Kirkpatrick, Jonathan Roberts, Steve Bloom
Starring: Paul Terry, Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, Joanna Lumley
Rating: [3.5/5]
Stories about found families outside the confines of blood relations have their inherent sweetness, and that mostly transpires between humans. An understandable circumstance but not often does this happen with life-size animated animals as seen in James and the Giant Peach and it comes as no surprise Henry Selick does a strong job in making it work in his adaptation of this Roald Dahl tale.
Unhappily living with some mean aunts, James (Paul Henry) finds himself with a giant peach where he turns into an animated version of himself and interacts with human-sized anthropomorphic invertebrates. Together they hope to get James to accomplish his ultimate dream of getting to New York City and the Empire State Building.
Walking into any Henry Selick directed film provides audience members with a few guarantees, which includes incredible stop-motion animation and a lovely story at the center of it. Some may have a bit more bite to them like Coraline or one much more earnest like the one being reviewed now. No matter what story he takes on, his beautiful attention to detail brings a texture to them that adds many layers of enjoyment to them and presents the narrative in a way that differs mightily from hand drawn or CG animation. One can easily picture what this film would look like if animated through those other methods, but the stop-motion adds something so different and it surely adds a charm to this narrative.
The earnestness of this feature sits right at the forefront in the way James wants to find community and family but does not receive that at home with his aunts. Getting into this peach and becoming an animated version of himself therefore allows him to find that with these insects in a curious manner. We see his pure heart initially when he refuses to kill a spider at the request of his aunts, who ends up being Miss Spider (Susan Sarandon). He starts off on the right foot with these future friends and then existing as insects metaphorically adds even more power to the story. Both he and those insects feel like afterthoughts to others as James feels like a pest in the lives of his aunts, just as we do the same to literal insects in our lives. I can tell you right now, my wife would not ask me to spare Miss Spider if she found her way into our home. These insects carry this value to James, and their bond cements the heartwarming aspects of the tale that Selick and his team nail in landing the emotionally resonant journey for our young lad.
Each of these bug characters brings their distinct personalities into the narrative, with Miss Spider’s motherly instincts, the wise Mr. Grasshopper (Simon Callow), and the wily Mr. Centipede (Richard Dreyfuss). They each represent something different to James as he goes on this little adventure but collectively they form a unit that fills a void he has missed since losing his parents. The wise guy Mr. Centipede stands out as he embodies this smooth-talking, cigar-smoking mobster persona, which differs mightily from the others. He always has something funny to say and helps provide something quite distinct from all of the others. However, Miss Spider will always remain one that makes the biggest discernible difference in her presence as both a caring creature but one who could inflict damage should she ever have the wish to. An eclectic mix of characters for James to interact with, that’s for sure.
To this day still a wonderfully engaging and enjoyable film, Henry Selick and his team utilize all of the cynicism within the text of Roald Dahl and sprinkle in some sweetness to craft this adaptation of James and the Giant Peach. The film utilizes stop-motion to add some inherent creepiness in the way these characters look and the way they move, which makes the experience all the better as we go on this adventure with this young boy. It has all of the hallmarks one could want from a Henry Selick film and delivers in a way that still manages to stand out when compared to his other efforts. On this occasion, we just have a giant peach and insects as companions for this journey.
Films with Josh 
