Critic Reviews
James and the Giant Peach (1996) Rank 5 Reviews
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Detroit News (Susan Stark)
eFilmCritic
If you are as big a fan of stop-motion animation as I am, you will want to add James and the Giant Peach to your collection.
Burton, known for his stop-motion work in The Nightmare Before Christmas and Vincent, brings back the charm of the medium with ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at eFilmCritic
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Roald Dahl's first book for children, "James and the Giant Peach," was a favorite at my house when my children were younger, and one of my sons appeared in a grade-school production of the story.
So, it was with some familiarity that I ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City
SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review
Henry Selick burst onto the scene, taking everybody's attention with the remarkable The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), a delightful revival of the near lost art of stop-motion animation. James and the Giant Peach was Henry Selick's ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review
Movie Hell (Michael J. Legeros)
Flying rhinos, enchanted crocodile tongues, and one very large piece of fruit. It's all business as usual for Roald Dahl, whose 1961 children's book has been brought to partially-animated life by director Henry Selick (THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS) ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Movie Hell (Michael J. Legeros)
Austin Chronicle (Robert Faires)
Do you recall how the world looked to you as a child? Everything was so huge. Buildings, furniture, grown-ups -- they all dwarfed you, some of them so large as to seem monstrous. And as you had yet to master the pretzel logic of adults, much of this ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Austin Chronicle (Robert Faires)
San Francisco Chronicle (Peter Stack)
The five songs performed in the movie were written by Randy Newman. ``James'' features brief live-action sequences that book-end the major, animated portion of the movie. The live action does not enchant nearly as much as the animation, but it succeeds ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Peter Stack)
San Francisco Examiner (Barbara Shulgasser)
ROALD DAHL'S great children's story, "James and the Giant Peach," has been beautifully transformed into film by the team that animated "The Nightmare Before Christmas," producer Tim Burton and Bay Area director and animator Henry Selick.
With Randy ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at San Francisco Examiner (Barbara Shulgasser)
San Francisco Chronicle (Peter Stack)
The prickly, dark tone of Roald Dahl's quirky 1961 children's book ``James and the Giant Peach'' is captured with a mesmerizing glow in the film version, coming out on video this week.
``James and the Giant Peach'' is frequently so alluring that ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Peter Stack)
filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
Lemme tell ya, this was the most unusual screening I've been to in a long time. After all, what better way to spend a Saturday morning than with 200 hyperactive children, all of whom are fawning over a guy dressed up in a giant, fuzzy, grey bat suit, ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
filmcritic.com eats a Giant Peach
Lemme tell ya, this was the most unusual screening I've been to in a long time. After all, what better way to spend a Saturday morning than with 200 hyperactive children, all of whom are fawning over a guy dressed up in a giant, fuzzy, grey bat suit, ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at filmcritic.com eats a Giant Peach
A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
"James and the Giant Peach" is the second film from the creative team of Tim Burton and director Henry Selick. Although it's not as successful or stunning as the duo's first effort(1993's wonderful "Nightmare Before Christmas), it's still enjoyable in ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at A Guide to Current DVD (Aaron Beierle)
Cinematter (Matt Williams)
An imaginative combination of animation styles makes this unique film a visual treat. James is a young orphan (his parents were killed from above by a supernatural rhino), forced to live with his cruel aunts, Spiker and Sponge (Joanna Lumley and Miriam ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Cinematter (Matt Williams)
The Movie Mom (Nell Minow)
This movie may be too scary for kids under six, but older children and their families, particularly fans of the Roald Dahl book, will love this spectacular musical fantasy. James has a blissful life with loving parents until they are both killed by a ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at The Movie Mom (Nell Minow)
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Almost everything that was true of 1993's Nightmare Before Christmas holds for 1996's James and the Giant Peach. Based (rather faithfully) on Roald Dahl's children's story, this movie uses a combination of live-action sequences and stop-motion animation ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Steve Rhodes
One day he crawls inside the peach and is transformed into a claymation figure. Inside he meets a great bunch of bugs. The Grasshopper (voice by Simon Callow) is an intellectual, The Ladybug (voice by Glynis Johns) is a sweet older lady, The Spider ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Steve Rhodes
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Dorothy, accompanied by a dog, a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion, followed the
yellow brick road. James, along with a pack of oversized bugs, follows his dreams. Both reach
their destinations, and, once there, discover that it's ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Audio Revolution
In 1993, the delightful, unique "A Nightmare Before Christmas" briefly re-established stop-motion animation as a major story-telling technique. Even before that film was released, its director Henry Selick had reunited much of the movie's crew to begin ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Audio Revolution
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Almost all Disney animated films involve dead or absent parents whosedeparture frees their little heroes to become independent adventurers. But``James and the Giant Peach'' wipes out the ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Palo Alto Online (Jeanne Aufmuth)
An ambitious project combining classic fiction, imaginative computer imagery and animated live-action footage, "James and the Giant Peach" is a stylized film with something for everybody. The story is based on Roald Dahl's hugely popular children's novel ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Palo Alto Online (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Palo Alto Online (Jeanne Aufmuth)
James is a lonely, 9-year-old orphan who is sent to live with his wicked aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Forced to perform menial labor and left to his own devices, James escapes into a fantasy world all his own. When a mysterious old man presents him with a ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Palo Alto Online (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)
A charming fable from the creators of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Based on the Roald Dahl children's classic, the story follows the adventures of the title boy and his friends (all gigantic bugs) on a huge peach. The boy, James, wishes to get away ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)
Mike D'Angelo
I'm almost always disappointed by film adaptations of books that I've enjoyed, but since I hadn't actually read Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach in close to twenty years, I didn't entirely trust my feeling that essential elements of the original ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Mike D'Angelo
Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD
After his parents are killed by a rhinoceros, a young English boy named James Henry Trotter is forced to live with his two truly abhorrent aunts. There, he must work all the time and is left with just crumbs to eat.
James dreams of leaving and ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Ultimate Guide to Disney DVD
kids-in-mind
A stop-motion animation version of the classic Roald Dahl story in which a young boy named James and several magically enlarged bugs escape life with James' two evil aunts and fly on a giant peach to New York City. With Paul Terry, Pete Postlethwaite, ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at kids-in-mind
The Cranky Critic (Chuck Schwartz)
As always, Cranky makes no comparisons to source material, in this case the classic children's tale by Roald Dahl. Thirty years and still going strong . . .
Perhaps all great stories are meant to be told again and again. Perhaps that is what makes ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at The Cranky Critic (Chuck Schwartz)
DVD MovieGuide
Take a bite out of Disney's delicious Special Edition of James And The Giant Peach, and celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the popular children's book by Roald Dahl that inspired this imaginative film. This amazing mix of live-action, ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at DVD MovieGuide
filethirteen.com
Imaginative, fun, musical and heart-warming, Tim Burton's second foray into stop-motion animation is everything the first is not. Once again helmed by Henry Selick (while Burton acts as producer), "James and the Giant Peach" outshines "The Nightmare ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at filethirteen.com
Screen It! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
A magical musical fairy tale concerning a little boy, James Henry Trotter (PAUL TERRY), who finds himself living with his two aunts, Spiker and Sponge, after the death of his parents. Life with his aunts is hard and he dreams of a better place, ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Screen It! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
The Magic of the Movies (Alex Christensen)
DVD Net (Amy Flower)
It was no surprise to discover another of Roald Dahl’s delightfully trippy children’s tales wending its way to movie screens, after all, very few of us who saw Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as munchkins have ever been quite the same since. ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at DVD Net (Amy Flower)
Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
Is the well-know children's book by Roald Dahl brought to the screen by the team who gave us "A Nightmare Before Christmas" two years ago.
James has an ideal life with his parents, but once they're killed by a mysterious rhino, he's forced to live ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Stop-motion animation is an intricate, agonizing process, so slow to produce results it can take six days to turn out 12 seconds of usable screen time. Its latest application in "James and the Giant Peach" makes you wonder why anyone bothered. ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Mark R. Leeper
Tim Burton makes two types of films. One type has plots that are concatenations of really odd scenes, strong on visual composition, but without much story to glue the scenes together. His other type of films are the ones written by Caroline Thompson. ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Mark R. Leeper
Time Out
Made by the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, this has an enchanting, at times ghoulish, appeal. An adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic story, Selick's film may not have made any spectacular technical advance on his previous work (the animated ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Time Out
Beatdown Magazine (Faran Thomason)
From the warped minds of Roald Dahl, Tim Burton and Henry Selick comes the latest "non-Disney" Disney animated film, James and the Giant Peach. (By non-Disney Disney film, this is a film financed by Disney, but seems to avoid the syrupy sweetness of most ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Beatdown Magazine (Faran Thomason)
The Tech (MIT) (Audrey Wu)
Although it seems we have stagnated in the too-quiet months before the movie industry releases its summer blockbusters, Disney has thankfully decided to fill the void with a bright little beacon named James and the Giant Peach. It's a smart move on ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at The Tech (MIT) (Audrey Wu)
Austin Chronicle (Robert Faires)
Do you recall how the world looked to you as a child? Everything was so huge. Buildings, furniture, grown-ups -- they all dwarfed you, some of them so large as to seem monstrous. And as you had yet to master the pretzel logic of adults, much of this ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Austin Chronicle (Robert Faires)
Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review
The first time we saw James and the Giant Peach , the stop motion animated follow-up to Nightmare before Christmas , directed by the director of Christmas , Henry Selick, we were enthralled by the film's magic and artistry. On subsequent viewings, ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review
Rambles: Tom Knapp
Anyone with a fear of insects should probably leave James & the Giant Peach on the shelf. So, too, should anyone who has lost their sense of fun or their connection to a child-like fascination for magical possibilities. ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Rambles: Tom Knapp
Tucson Weekly (Stacey Richter)
Eventually though, James' work begins, quite literally, to bear fruit. With the help of a little magic, James makes a giant peach grow on his aunt's property. The "peach" is in fact the metaphorical representation of the surplus value created by his ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Tucson Weekly (Stacey Richter)
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
When director Henry Selick made The Nightmare Before Christmas, he was under the shadow of Tim Burton. Audiences believed they were watching the vision of the man who created Beeltejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Now James and the Giant Peach is here to ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
Movierapture (Keith Allen)
Based on Roald Dahl's book, Henry Selick's James and the Giant Peach is a lively, bewitching film that is sure to delight the viewer. The director has, in fact, crafted a genuinely enthralling, visually stunning movie filled with a variety of fascinating ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Movierapture (Keith Allen)
Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
When his parents are killed by an angry rhinoceros, young James (Paul Terry) moves in with his tyrannical and abusive aunts. His life is one nightmare after another until an Old Man gives him a bag of glowing green crocodile tongues. Soon a magical peach ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
Edinburgh U Film Society (Alistair Harkness)
Roald Dahl and Hollywood were never meant to be together. Dahl's books are too dark and twisted, capturing the nastiness of the world as seen through the eyes of under twelves; mutating grannies, bald-headed witches and infanticidal giants are the enemy. ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Edinburgh U Film Society (Alistair Harkness)
Philadelphia City Paper (Vance Lehmkuhl)
Dahl's wicked sense of humor is blunted by Disneyfication while his anxiety about female sexuality (the plot: a boy escapes his evil stepmothers by — ahem — climbing into a hole is a giant peach) is actually intensified by some bizarrely chosen ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Philadelphia City Paper (Vance Lehmkuhl)
DVDRAMA
Disney nous refait malheureusement le coup de Nightmare Before Chrismas, autrement dit, cette édition spéciale ne bénéficie pas de compatibilité 16/9. Ce qui est d’autant plus regrettable que le pressage est d’une facture plus que convenable. ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at DVDRAMA
Film Scouts (Karen Jaehne)
James is one of those 9-year-old English orphans with nobby knees and a nob of a nose, who requires magic to overcome life's torments. Fortunately, along comes a man to give him some advice and, even better, some glowing green things with a post-atomic ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Film Scouts (Karen Jaehne)
DVDRAMA
Etrangement, cette édition ne bénéficie pas d'un encodage 16/9. Ce qui entraine un certain manque de définition, essentiellement dans la partie Live du film (souffrant également d'un grain légèrement trop prononcé). Ce qui est d’autant plus ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at DVDRAMA
group29 Movie Review
Eat the Peach!! This movie is a faithful adaptation of the Roald Dahl book. Disney definitely proves that the musical is alive and well in the children's movie genre. The claymation that Tim Burton pioneered with Nightmare Before Christmas is pushed to a ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at group29 Movie Review
Needcoffee.com - DVD Review
Before he can be carried off to the nigh-mythical New York, young James is orphaned when his idyllic parents are both killed by a rhino in Africa. James is then taken in by his two cruel aunts, played by Lumley and Margolyes, who work him ruthlessly and ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Needcoffee.com - DVD Review
filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
The Roald Dahl children's book comes to life in this partly animated, partly live action feature. This is a Disney-funded movie with songs by Randy Newman and directed by Henry Selick. It is strange and interesting, but doesn't quite deliver.
James is ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at filmsgraded.com (Brian Koller)
SPLICEDwire (Rob Blackwelder)
Watching "James and the Giant Peach," Disney's and Tim Burton's celluloid incarnation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, the seven-year-old in me was having a ball.
The animation, by the same team that produced "The Nightmare Before Christmas," ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at SPLICEDwire (Rob Blackwelder)
Tim Voon
As a great fan of any Roald Dahl work and adaptation to screen, I was greatly disappointed with the results of 'James', when compared to the other recent adaptation of 'Matilda'. Perhaps the stick-like animated figures used for the most part of this ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Tim Voon
Tempi Moderni
"James e la pesca gigante" è tratto dall'omonimo romanzo di Roald Dahl, la cui opera sta suscitando un crescente interesse nei registi d'oltreoceano. La prima parte del film, realizzata "dal vivo" con attori in carne e ossa, mostra l'infanzia felice di ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Tempi Moderni
Cinopsis
Le petit James est bien malheureux dans son Angleterre natale. Orphelin, il est élevé par ses deux abominables tantes. Son rêve? Partir pour New-York où tous les rêves se réalisent. Malheureusement, c'est impossible. Mais un jour, miracle !, sa ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Cinopsis
Washington Post
The hero is a 9-year-old orphan James, who's forced to live with his nasty aunts Spiker and Sponge. A stranger presents James with a bag of magical "crocodile tongues." When James accidentally spills the contents at the foot of a dead peach tree, a giant ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Washington Post
Xi-online
Na The Nightmare Before Christmas begon animator Henry Selick samen met producent Tim Burton aan de verfilming van Roald Dahl's klassieke "kinder"verhaal James and the Giant Peach. Grappig genoeg worden beide films gedistribueerd door Walt Disney ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Xi-online
Plugged In
James and the Giant Peach, based on the 1961 Roald Dahl book of the same name, is a fairy tale beyond all fairy tales. Live action and stop-motion animation bring a little boy, a giant peach and a talkative cast of human sized insects to the silver ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Plugged In
Alex Christensen
When Tim Burton's _The_Nightmare_Before_Christmas_ was released, critics raved and gushed, loving the wonderful music by Danny Elfman, the ingenious story by Tim Burton, and the intriguing, dark, visually stunning stop-motion of Henry Selick. It was ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Alex Christensen
The Melancholy Eskimo Review
The film is based on a novella by Roald Dahl, and it’s hard to go wrong with that kind of base. He is one of those writers of children’s fiction, like George MacDonald, who gives us a full portion of drama, not a child’s portion. It is useful to ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at The Melancholy Eskimo Review
Boxoffice Magazine
Voices of: Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Simon Callow. Directed by Henry Selick. Written by Karey Kirkpatrick and Jonathan Roberts & Steve Bloom from the novel by Roald Dahl. Produced by Denise Di Novi and Tim Burton. Released by Disney ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Boxoffice Magazine
Box Office Magazine
Voices of: Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Simon Callow. Directed by Henry Selick. Written by Karey Kirkpatrick and Jonathan Roberts & Steve Bloom from the novel by Roald Dahl. Produced by Denise Di Novi and Tim Burton. Released by Disney ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Box Office Magazine
Boxoffice Magazine
That author Roald Dahl, master of the macabre, wrote children's books in the first place is an irony in itself. Call it poetic justice, then, that Henry Selick, the director behind the ghoulish "The Nightmare Before Christmas," helms the part ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Boxoffice Magazine
DVD Talk (Chuck Arrington)
The Nightmare Before Christmas is the undeniable benchmark to which all stop motion animation will be compared, and rightly so. The storyline, music and characters all made for an incredible story. James and the Giant Peach however falls short of that ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at DVD Talk (Chuck Arrington)
Scott Marcus
Cast: Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes, Pete Postlewaithe, David Thewlis (voice), Simon Callow (voice), Glynis Johns (voice), Susan Sarandon (voice) Writers: Roald Dahl (based on his book), Steven Bloom, Karey Kirkpatrick, Dennis Potter, Jonathan Roberts ...read the complete James and the Giant Peach movie review at Scott Marcus
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