Genre: Comedy    Year: April 1996    Country:
IMDB Rating: 4.0 (72 votes)
Director: Henry Selick    Studio: Walt Disney Home Video
Starring: Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Jane Leeves, Joanna Lumley, Miriam Margolyes
Summary: Roald Dahl's modern classic for children becomes a delightful combination of live action and stop-motion animation by the team that made "The Nightmare Before Christmas": director Henry Selick and producers Tim Burton ("Batman") and Denise Di Novi. The story concerns young James (played for real and through voice-overs by Paul Terry), who is orphaned and left in the charge of two cruel aunts (Miriam Margolyes, Joanna Lumley). Rescued by a mysterious fellow (Pete Postlethwaite), James ends up inside a giant peach, drifting over the Atlantic Ocean in the company of a gentleman grasshopper (voiced by Simon Callow), a fast-talking centipede (Richard Dreyfuss), an anxious earthworm (David Thewlis), a matronly ladybug (Jane Leeves), and a sexy spider (Susan Sarandon). The collection of actors and their creepy-crawly alter egos are a delight, especially when some of the song-and-dance numbers (tunes are written by Randy Newman) get everyone going. "--Tom Keogh"