James and the Giant Peach (1996)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Henry Selick

Writers (WGA):

Roald Dahl (book)
Karey Kirkpatrick (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 April 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

If you really don't go to the movies, you won't see...

Plot:

An orphan with terrible aunts for guardians, befriends human like bugs who live inside a giant peach, who take the boy on a journey to New York City.

Plot Keywords:

Peach | Aunt | Spider | Orphan | Magic

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Simon Callow	...	Grasshopper (voice)
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Centipede (voice)
Jane Leeves	...	Ladybug (voice)
Joanna Lumley	...	Aunt Spiker
Miriam Margolyes	...	Aunt Sponge / The Glowworm (voice)
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Old Man
Susan Sarandon	...	Miss Spider (voice)
Paul Terry	...	James
David Thewlis	...	Earthworm (voice)
J. Stephen Coyle	...	Reporter #2
Steven Culp	...	James' Father
Cirocco Dunlap	...	Girl With Telescope
Michael Girardin	...	Reporter #1
Tony Haney	...	Reporter #3
Kathryn Howell	...	Woman in Bathrobe (as Katherine Howell)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some frightening images.

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | Finland:S | USA:PG (certificate #34530) | South Korea:All | Philippines:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Germany:6 (bw) | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/6 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | UK:U | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Allied Filmmakers

Trivia:

Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker briefly recite a few lines from a poem written by Roald Dahl.

Goofs:

Continuity: James gets out of bed in his nightshirt, fights his aunt and falls down the stairs head first. His night shirt slips up and reveals that his stunt double is wearing white pants down to his knees. The next shot of James at the foot of the stairs shows that he's not wearing pants.

Quotes:

Centipede: I've sailed all the five seas. From the land of Bora Bora to the icy shores of Tripoli. Commodore Centipede, they used to call me.
Grasshopper: Seven.
Centipede: Huh?
Grasshopper: There are seven seas, and Tripoli is in the Sub-Tropics, Commodore!
Centipede: Trim the sails!
Ladybug: There are no sails.
Centipede: Start the engines!
Earthworm: There are no engines.
Centipede: I can't work with this miserable crew!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Will & Grace: Sons and Lovers (#3.22)" (2001)

Soundtrack:

Sail Away

A Peach of a Picture

James and the Giant Peach may not have the cult status of Nightmare Before Christmas, but, aside from mixing live-action bookends with the all-animated center of the film (not a great idea; should have been all-animation), it's a faithful and wonderful adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic dream-like story. The animation is superb, the voice talent wonderful (Susan Sarandon's sexy Eastern European Miss Spider takes the cake), and, as Time Magazine said, the film in many ways surpasses the book. Though there are flaws in the screen story by Karey Kirkpatrick, their effect on the overall emotional ride of the film is negligible. After seeing it again recently (first time in several years), I was amazed at what an incredibly beautiful film it is, beautiful colors and design and effects like teacup clouds and the cloud rhino. I especially loved the mechanical shark and the ships' arctic graveyard sequence where Centipede redeems himself by diving into the water to find a compass to get the peach back on course. Overall, a great film.