Jim y el durazno gigante

I was an enormous fan of Roald Dahl's books when I was kid. I think of him as the Hands Christian Anderson of the 20th century. I didn't read all of Dahl's books but I read most of them. I've also seen most of the movies based on his books. Out of all the Roald Dahl books I read as child I would say that 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' is my favorite but 'James And The Giant Peach' is my second favorite.

The reason why I would say these two books are my favorites is because they're both about children who live miserable lives until a magical experience changes their lives forever and both end up becoming the luckiest kids in the world. For Charlie, his life changes with a tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, but for James it's with a magical giant peach and group very friendly creatures.

I first remember hearing about this movie back in late 1996 when it was released in America during the Christmas holidays and I was very excited about it, but unfortunately I had to wait until the Easter Holidays before this movie arrived in Australia. I certainly loved it. James's two horrible aunt's who are nothing except cruel and nasty. Are as horrible in the movie as they are in the book.

I really loved the creatures from the peach which I remember (from the book) James describing them as "The friendliest creatures in the world". These creatures include Grasshopper, Earthworm, Centipede, Ladybug, Spider and Glowworm. My two favorite character's are Spider because her French accent made her a very smooth character and Centipede because of his sense of humor.

I also liked the songs. My favorite was "We're Family" which the creatures use to express how much they love James. I certainly believe these creatures are the best family any child could have. So for anyone who loved Roald Dahl's books as a child, you must...must see this film!

I really enjoyed it, and so did my 3- and 5-year-old (and yes, we read the book). The animation and live-action scenes showed a lot of love. Though elements of the story seemed a bit hurried or neglected, they weren't anything a fairy-tale fantasy couldn't absorb in stride. The music works well enough for this non-fan of musicals, and I prefer serviceable and inoffensive tunes to the treacly jingles and melodramatic scores of the usual Disney classics.

My only real complaint would be with the ending, as it really is unclear how the aunts drove across the ocean (did they obtain their own crocodile tongues?), and the slice of NY upon landing has a grim, Munchkin-town quality. Still, everything up to that point has left you with lots of goodwill towards the movie's makers.

The visual style is a bit "freaky" and the characters are a bit offbeat but that gives it some charm. I loved the banter between all the different insects who have a rivalry but are all good people. Their adventure is very engaging. The only downside is that sometimes the film is a bit over the top which makes it hard to empathise with James because his struggles can seem a bit comedic.

The 1996 Disney filmization of Roald Dahl's first book for children, 1961's "James and the Giant Peach," is a delightful confection that, like its original, should prove as much fun for the adults as the kiddies. The film hews fairly closely to its source material, with some important differences, and really is quite the exemplar of modern-day animation arts. In it, we are introduced to James Henry Trotter, an orphaned boy whose miserable existence with his two witchlike aunts takes a decided turn for the better when a mysterious old man gives him a bagful of magical green crystals. These crystals cause the previously barren peach tree in his front yard to grow the titular giant fruit, and James soon meets, inside the stone of the fruit, six new friends, giants all: a grasshopper, a spider, an earthworm, a glowworm, a ladybug and a centipede (the book's silkworm character, for some reason, has been omitted). The seven make a hazardous trans-Atlantic journey to NYC aboard the peach, a journey that tests the mettle of each of the team indeed. The film differs from Dahl's book in that the journey to NYC is a goal, rather than a happy accident. The film also tones down the book's violence (James' aunts are not killed in the film), turns the shark into some kind of killer robot, and, most unwisely, drops the entire sequence with the Cloud Men in favor of a haunted pirate ship not at all present in Dahl's text. The nature of the rhino that ate James' parents is also, strangely, much altered. The filmmakers have added some musical numbers to the mix, and although Randy Newman's charms are usually lost on me, I found his five contributions here to be quite entertaining. The picture blends live action, stop-motion animation and what looks to be (in James' dream) animated collages seamlessly and effectively, and the whole production really is something of a technical marvel. Despite the changes, this is one very winning entertainment indeed.

True, it isn't as good as the book, which is a childhood favourite of mine, but it is still a delightful and charming film. The look of the film is splendid, with bright colours in most scenes and some very memorable scenes such as the killer sharks, and the peach was stupendous. The script is very clever and funny, especially with Centipede, who has some truly hilarious lines. The performances are exceptional, Paul Terry is very appealing as James and Pete Postelthwaite delights as the mysterious man, who is responsible for changing James's life forever. There is also a terrific voice cast, including Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon and David Thewlis who breathe fresh air into the screenplay, but it is certainly Miriam Margoyles and Joanna Lumley as the ghastly aunts who steal the show. I do however have two complaints of the film. I did find Randy Newman's songs forgettable, and they occasionally mar the film's pacing, and Paul Terry's singing voice just was a bit weak. Other than that, it is a delightful film, with an 8/10. Bethany Cox