I found this more of a cartoon than an animated feature, and quite kiddy-ish, actually. This was just way too far-fetched for an animated film. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid.

Back in 1996 my six year old nephew recommended to me in no uncertain terms that I ought to see James And The Giant Peach. It took over 20 years but I finally got to see it. My nephew was quite correct and perspicacious.This film is a wonderful fantasy adventure that more than little kids will enjoy. It's based on a Roald Dahl story and the film is a mixture of live action and animation.Young James loses his parents and goes to live with a couple of maiden aunts who are a mean pair, making Cinderella's stepsisters like a couple of Girl Scouts. One day like Jack got those magic beans, James got some magic seeds and a peach blossomed on a dead tree. And it grew bigger and bigger until it was as large as a house and was dimensionally like the rabbit hole Alice fell into.That's what happens to young James played here by Paul Terry and most winningly. Fruit can be the host to many creatures and the animated creatures are given voices by such people as Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss, Simon Callow and more. The group goes through a lot of adventures living in a giant peach that is used for transportation and living quarters.The film got an Oscar nomination for Best Musical Scoring. It will be one eternal kid's fantasy for kids of all ages. My nephew knew how to pick a winner.

It is mind boggling how much praise this film gets. The film is overblown with the only redeeming qualities being the animation and sets, and to a lesser extent, the acting. Everything else is done poorly, especially the songs and the acting from Paul Terry (James).This film has so much set up with no pay off and leaves things that are crucial parts of the story unexplained or illogical. For instance, what was that giant rhino and if it was just smoke and noise how did it eat the parents? What was the mechanical shark? Where did Pete Postlethwaite's character come from? See what I mean?In all honesty, the animation was fantastic and the sets did have a Tim Burton-esque feel to them, but that is about it. If you are looking for a clumsy, unorganized and not too thought out movie, than look no further than "James and the Giant Peach".

This movie is rotten like a spoiled peach. This pile of rotten apples was based on the book written by the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, Roald Dahl. It is also directed by Henry Selick. So, why should I throw rotten peaches at the schmoes who made this crap? Read on and find out...The very first problem begins in the very first few minutes of the movie: the death of James' parents. According to the narrator, James' parents were eaten alive by a rhinoceros. Uh.... WHAT?!!! How do rhinos eat people?! Rhinoceri are herbivores not carnivores! I'm not kidding you, I didn't make this up! This is exactly what the narrator said about the death of James' parents. And afterwords, James becomes a ward for his two evil aunts. Call me crazy, but here's what really happened to James' parents: My guess is that James' evil aunts sneaked into the bedroom of James' parents and stabbed them to death out of extreme rage that James' parents are better than them. This is more realistic than "a rhino eating James' parents". Then, there's the songs. Listen how horrible the lyrics are! Randy Newman, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! You were one of my favorite composers! You composed the songs for the Toy Story movies, for god's sake! What was the matter with you?! This movie is so bad, the Nostalgia Critic was forced against his will making a "positive" review for this piece of crap.Pros: The artwork Cons: The songs, the CGI cloud effects, and the ridiculous explanation of how James' parents died.