James and the Giant Peach (Special Edition)
Walt Disney Video - Walt Disney Video
Release date: 2000-10-03
DVD
Director:Henry Selick
Actors: Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes
Adventure, Animated, Authority Figures [k], Children, Children's Fantasy, Children's Video, Children's/Family, Childrens, Color, Comedy, Computer Animation, English, Excellent For Children, Family, Fanciful, Fantasy, Fantasy Comedy, Feature Film Family, Light, Movie
average reviews
0 vote
0 vote
React and review
James and the Giant Peach (Special Edition)
Date undefinedAs a mother of two kids (ages 8 and 6), I have read nearly all of the Roald Dahl books multiple times in the past few years. We all love his writing - his stories are usually quite dark and yet offer a lot of humor, warmth and love as well. James and the Giant Peach is a wonderful story and well worth reading with your children. Mind you, there is the usual dose of Dahl meanness and nastiness but it is great story with many wonderful characters, budding relationships, and ultimately a very happy ending.
I was thus incredibly disappointed when we borrowed this DVD from our local library. The screenwriter took far too much liberty in changing things. I found it crude and insulting to the memory of Roald Dahl. If you have read the book, you know, for example, that the two horrible aunts are "disposed of" by the peach quite early in the story. In this movie, the aunts live on and actually follow poor James and his friends to New York City. Unbelievable.
Do read or listen to James and the Giant Peach (along with Matilda, the BFG, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) but skip this movie. If you do want to see a Roald Dahl movie, you would be much better off with either Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Mind you, neither of these is as good as the books they portray, particularly the latter, but they are still pretty good movies.
James and the Giant Peach (Special Edition)
Date undefinedI really enjoyed this movie
However since I upgraded to a widescreen TV, this letterboxed edition just doesn't cut it anymore. The picture only fills a tiny little area in the middle of the screen.
Disney, please remaster this great movie and release it on Blu-ray. With extras...
James and the Giant Peach (Special Edition)
Date undefinedWhen I first heard Tim Burton was making a film of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, I knew the mesh of styles was a very natural fit. The same thing applies here.
However, I believe this was based on a short story. So the folks responsible for this film padded it with musical numbers -- I hate singing in my movies -- and still wound up with only 80 minutes.
And that is the ONLY reason I dropped this down to three stars. Everything works, and quite well.
