Based on Ransom Riggs’ 2011 young adult best seller by the same name, the film is directed by Tim Burton.

    Like previous young Burton leads, Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”) is a problem child, not understood by his parents (Chris O’Dowd, Kim Dickens) but very close to his grandfather Abraham (Terence Stamp), who lives with them all in suburban Florida. Jake never tires of* hearing Grandpa’s stories about how, after having gotten out of Poland just before World War II, he’d lived in a house with “the special children” before joining the British army.

    Grandpa has always referred to the “monsters” he fought in the war, and has mysterious* old photographs of strange people and supernatural* phenomena. But when pressed for more details, Grandpa says he doesn’t want to talk about it.

    When Grandpa dies (his eyes mysteriously turned into black holes), Dad takes his son to Wales, the location* of Grandpa’s old school, to satisfy the boy’s curiosity*.

    The main object of Jake’s interest is the school Grandpa went to, which was hit by German bombs on September 3, 1943. Indeed, when Jake and his dad visit it, they find only a shell. But when Jake sneaks* back on his own, he’s able to enter a portal* that lands him back on that fateful day some 70 years earlier. And in the then-gorgeous school, he meets its inhabitants*. Ruling the roost is the pipe-smoking headmistress Miss Peregrine (Eva Green), who welcomes the outsider and explains the “recessive” gene of peculiarity; she, when the occasion calls for it, can turn into a falcon*.

    Most interesting among the students is blonde Emma (Ella Purnell), who is so light that she must wear heavy metal boots to keep from floating off into space. She and Abraham were “close” before the bombardment.

    The key to the story lies in Miss Peregrine’s ability to manipulate* time. Each day for her, her students and the school is still Sept. 3, 1943. By stopping her watch a matter of seconds before the Nazi bombers are to strike, she can turn back the clock 24 hours and life can go on, but if they leave they’ll quickly get old and die.(SD-Agencies)