I recently received a review copy of this DVD/Blu-ray combo set of James and the Giant Peach. I’ve had some internet connection issues (I got a virus! Ack!) so I was not able to blog about it until just now. But let me tell you, this movie was a HIT this summer with my kids and their cousins and their friends! They all loved it!

Here’s a shot, though pretty bad (my camera phone is no good indoors) of two of my kids and two of their cousins completely caught up in the movie:

I know that my daughter also watched it several more times when she had friends over. The funny thing is that when my boys were little, we rented this movie once – and I don’t think they even watched it all the way through. It scared them!! So when Patrick was watching with the girls (above photo), I kept going in there and asking him, “Are you scared?” and driving them all crazy!

(Unrelated note: Patrick also used to be scared of Pappy on Pappyland. Man, I loved that show – it was so cute!! Sam and I had to watch it when Patrick wasn’t around, because, it just freaked him out!)

The story is about a boy named James, who is orphaned when he is young and has to go live with his two aunts, who just treat him horribly! The poor kid has a really sad life with his aunts, Spiker and Sponge, until one day a mysterious stranger gives him some magic crocodile beans and everything turns around. On his way home to his aunts’ house, James trips and drops the beans on the roots of a peach tree. The beans do amazing, magical things to one of the peaches and to some of the critters that live on the tree, who soon become wonderful friends for James. They all wind up going on a great adventure and things really turn out much better for James.

It is a great story, but, there are some dark parts and I can see why the boys were scared when they were little. My nieces didn’t get scared at all, though, but, they are older than the boys were when they first saw it.

The story was originally a book written by Roald Dahl in the 6os. Since we enjoyed the movie so much, I would be really interested to read the book, for sure! I hope I remember to check it out next time we go to the library. This was a great movie and I’m grateful for the chance to have reviewed it!

P. S. If you’re interested in checking this movie out yourself, you can find it on Amazon by clicking right here: James and the Giant Peach