James and the Giant Peach is based on a book of the same name by British author Roald Dahl. Dahl himself has written many classic books that have been adapted to film, including The Witches, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (a couple of times), Matilda and most recently Fantastic Mr. Fox. In this story, young James (Paul Terry) is forced to grow up in a house with his two old aunts, Sponge (Miriam Margoyles) and Spiker (Joanna Lumley), and they both see him as their personal slave, especially since his parents had the indecency to get themselves killed by a rampaging rhino. For several years now, James has been doing all of the work around the house, and while he dreams of a better place, New York City actually, he is resigned to stay where he is, that is, until an old man (Pete Postlethwaite) shows up and gives the boy a box of magical, wiggling, green, glowing things.
Unfortunately, these strange worm-like objects quickly get away from him and end up all over the place, and when an old peach tree actually produces a giant fruit, Sponge and Spiker use the strangely-sized peach as a way to get money. When James feels compelled to enter the giant peach, he finds that it it's filled with the various insects he has observed in his daily life. What's odd is that they are all man-sized and can walk and talk. It's at this point where the film switches from live action acting to stop-action animation. Even James himself finds he isn't exactly the person he used to be as he has also taken on a claymation look and feel. With a snip of the stem, the giant peach quickly takes off on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean to find a place James can be truly happy.
The insects joining James on his journey include the French-accented Miss Spider (Susan Sarandon), the culturally refined Grasshopper (Simon Callow), a Centipede (Richard Dreyfuss) from New York, Lady Bug (Jane Leeves) and the peach's light source, Glow Worm (a second role for Margoyles). Along the way, the troupe will not only have to tame seagulls, but also fend off mechanical sharks, get lost in the Arctic and even face off against a familiar skeleton.
The film bookends the stop-action animation with live action sequences that help to give James and the Giant Peach a somewhat Wizard of Oz feel, especially since this musical even has an "Over the Rainbow" style song just before the adventure kicks off. Unfortunately, these live action sequences really seem to take away from the overall feel, at least to me. It seems like most of the acting during these segments are much more over-the-top than the acting portrayed in the rest of the film, and it just feels a bit overly-cheesy.
The James and the Giant Peach: Special Edition Blu-ray release also contains a DVD copy of the film, but outside of that, I was pretty disappointed with the list of extras the movie comes with. The Blu-ray comes with the few special features found on the DVD: A short featurette, a still gallery, the trailer and a music video; and the only added feature is a game where you charge up a rhino's head-thrust in order to hit Sponge or Spiker in order to earn points. While the Blu-ray transfer of the film generally looks great, it would have been nice to see a few more extras.
While I don't believe James and the Giant Peach is nearly as good as The Nightmare Before Christmas, it is still a great retelling of a classic book, and this release is a great way to introduce the story and film to younger viewers. If nothing else, the high-definition stop-action animation is worth a rental.
