Film

James and the Giant Peach

Henry Selick's stop-motion fantasy turns Roald Dahl's slim, cruel little fable into something gentler and stranger: a lonely boy escapes his monstrous aunts by climbing inside a peach the size of a house, alongside a crew of oversized, philosophical insects. It's brief, tactile, occasionally properly nightmarish, and the kind of film that lodges itself in a child's memory for decades.

TMDb rating6.6

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Matilda1996

Same Dahl DNA, same decade, same delight in monstrous adults getting their comeuppance — Danny DeVito's film is meaner, funnier, and just as visually inventive, with a heroine even sharper than James.

But It's more overtly cruel to its child characters, and the humour leans darker and more sarcastic throughout.

Matilda poster

Fantastic Mr. Fox2009

Wes Anderson's stop-motion take on Dahl swaps peach for fox, but keeps the wit, the texture, and the sense that adults might actually enjoy this one as much as kids do.

But Anderson's deadpan, dialogue-heavy style is an acquired taste and may bore younger viewers expecting more slapstick.

Fantastic Mr. Fox poster

Coraline2009

Henry Selick returned to stop-motion over a decade later with a darker, sharper, adult-friendly fable about another lonely child finding an alternate, dangerous family — his best work by most measures.

But It's genuinely unsettling in places; skip it if you found the aunts in James too much already.

Coraline poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Time Bandits1981

Same engine as James: an unhappy, unloved child escapes grim domestic reality through a fantastical portal alongside a gang of odd, bickering companions.

Terry Gilliam's anarchic fantasy sends a bored, neglected boy tumbling through time with a crew of squabbling dwarves, and it's every bit as strange, cruel, and funny as that sounds.

But It's British and properly weird, with a bleaker, more cynical streak than most family films dare attempt.

Time Bandits poster
More like this (8)

The Nightmare Before Christmas1993

Selick's earlier stop-motion triumph, with Tim Burton's fingerprints all over its gothic, musical, gorgeously handmade world — essential viewing for anyone who loved the tactile weirdness of Peach's creatures.

But It's a musical through and through, which won't land for viewers who don't want songs breaking up the plot.

The Nightmare Before Christmas poster

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory2005no page yet

Burton and Depp's lavish, candy-colored Dahl adaptation shares the same fascination with grotesque relatives and children triumphing through sheer strangeness, wrapped in gorgeous production design throughout.

But Depp's Wonka is divisive, and the film's tone swings between whimsical and genuinely creepy without much warning.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory1971

The original Dahl screen adaptation, decades older, cheaper, and stranger than anything Hollywood makes now, with Gene Wilder's Wonka radiating a menace this film's Magic Man only hints at.

But The pacing and effects are unmistakably of their era, and some songs run long by modern standards.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory poster

The BFG2016no page yet

Spielberg's gentle, motion-captured Dahl adaptation trades insects for giants, but keeps the tender friendship between a lonely child and one enormous, odd protector at its center.

But It's slower and more sentimental, with less of the anarchic humour Dahl fans might be hoping for.

Corpse Bride2005

Another lushly detailed stop-motion fantasy, this one a gothic romance rather than an adventure, but sharing the same handmade, slightly macabre charm and songs that stick around.

But It's aimed a touch older, with themes of death and marriage that go over younger heads.

Corpse Bride poster

Paddington2014

If you want the gentleness without any of the darkness, this warm, funny tale of a displaced little creature finding an unlikely family is nearly impossible not to love.

But It's much safer and sweeter — anyone wanting the weirdness of the Peach's insects will find this comparatively tame.

Paddington poster

Mary and Max2009no page yet

Both use handmade stop-motion animation to tell a story about a lonely child finding unlikely family — but this one refuses to soften the pain.

Same painstaking claymation craft, aimed at adults instead: a wrenching, darkly funny story about an isolated girl and a lonely man writing letters across the world for decades.

But It's genuinely sad, dealing with depression and loss with none of the reassurance a family film usually offers.

Jason and the Argonauts1963

Harryhausen's stop-motion creature work directly influenced the animators who built James's insect cast — this is the technique's ancestor, monsters and all.

Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion skeletons and monsters practically invented the visual language James's insects speak; watch this and you'll see exactly where that tactile, slightly uncanny movement comes from.

But The effects, however influential, look their age, and the pacing is far slower than anything modern audiences expect.

Jason and the Argonauts poster

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The Nightmare Before Christmas, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlotte's Web, The Witches, Nanny McPhee, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory