James and the Giant Peach (1996)

AMAZING BOOK, HORRIBLE MOVIE

As 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. July 16, 2008

Please Release This On Blu-ray !

I 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... June 19, 2008

Roald Dahl and Tim Burton

When 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.
June 3, 2008

Great Innocent Fun

I saw it twice in theaters when it first came out. This is a wonderful story of courage that should be read to a child first then show them the DVD to bring their imagination alive. May 29, 2008

Roald Dahl is the greatest!

This dvd is excellent for all ages. Roald Dahl is the best story teller and the dvd does a good job staying in sync with the book, as movies go.
I am showing this to my Kindergarten class 15 min per day. They are loving it.
Dont hesitate to purchase this if you are young at heart and enjoy the lighter side of life. April 26, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...