When I was younger, I remember my family turning on the Disney channel and watching movies together in the living room. It was always such a fascinating experience to get to watch new movies with my family, and I enjoyed every second of it. However, at the ripe age of six years old, as my family and I sat in the living room getting ready to watch the next showing on Disney Channel, the movie “James and the Giant Peach” popped up on the screen and turned my world upside down.
James and the Giant Peach was released as a movie in 1996 by the Disney company and director Tim Burton, following the popularity of Roald Dahl’s childhood book of the same name. Both the movie and the book follow the adventures of James, an orphaned British boy who is forced to live with his cruel aunts–Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker–after both his parents are killed and eaten by rhinos who had escaped from the London Zoo. Gruesome, right?
Watching it as a six-year-old who was not familiar with the art style of Tim Burton movies, I was appalled at what I saw on screen. The way that James’s eyes look throughout the movie, as well as seven of the insect friends that James meets on his journey–including Centipede, Miss Spider, and Earthworm–left me feeling very disturbed as I continued to watch the on-screen events unfold. My family was also a bit alarmed by the movie as well since it had been something entirely different than what they believed Disney would present to its younger audience and families.
I will agree with the multitudes of people who do enjoy this movie, though; the lesson of James and the Giant Peach is honestly quite heartwarming, even if I may find the visuals to be terrifying. The lesson that James learns throughout his journey is that it’s never too late to make friends. James may have lost his parents and may have very cruel aunts, but even with all of that, he desired a better life for himself: one full of friendship. And he didn’t give up until he achieved just that.
The film is very touching when I look at it from that perspective, but unfortunately, I still hold a deep hatred for the movie and its’ scary visuals, the creepy characters, and the overall uneasy atmosphere that it emits. Even thinking back to the first time I watched it when I was six makes my skin crawl.
If I had watched “James and the Giant Peach” later in my teenage years, maybe I wouldn’t despise it as much as I do. However, the feeling of disturbance that I continually feel whenever the movie is mentioned is enough to make me never want to watch it again–and that’s a fact.