History Literature / JamesAndTheGiantPeach

-->'''Earthworm:''' Oh no...no, no...have you lost your minds?\\

'''Mr. Centipede:''' (sleepily) I said I'd steer the peach. I have to steer the peach. Can't quit...now.\\

'''Mr. Centipede:''' (sleepily) Thanks...Mr. Grasshopper...\\

** The rhino that killed James's parents was a normal rhino....that ate them despite being an herbivore in the books. In the film, it's a freaking EldritchAbomination (which actually justifies how it ate James's parents, though as a {{Handwave}}).

* InformedPoverty: While not explicitly stated, it is likely that Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are poor, with their ramshackle house in a very remote location, with a bare garden, resentment at James being there, and the way that Aunt Spiker jumps at the chance to make money from inviting people to see the giant peach.

* AndStarring: Paul Terry gets an "Introducing" in the opening credits. James ended up being his only film role, and he ultimately quit acting shortly afterwards.

--> '''James:''' Is that a glow-worm? It doesn't look like a worm of any sort to me.
--> '''Centipede:''' Of course it's a glow-worm. At least that's what she calls herself.

--> "Poor Earthworm. He never smiles. He loves to make everything into a disaster. He's only happy when he's unhappy. Now, isn't that odd?"

--> [[spoiler:"Very informative magazine, the ''National Geographic''. Wonderful pictures."]]

--> "Time to go make a pest of myself, heh heh heh heh!"

---> The furniture went sliding across the room, and crashing into the wall. So did James and the Ladybird and the Old-Green-Grasshopper and the Earthworm and Miss Spider and also the Centipede, who had just come slithering quickly down the wall.

--> '''Miss Spider:''' Centipede, I do not know whether to kill you or... kiss you.
--> '''Mr. Centipede:''' (blushes and smiles sheepishly)

--> '''Mr. Grasshopper:''' I say, old sport. I came to relieve you of your duties.
--> '''Mr. Centipede:''' (sleepily) I said I'd steer the peach. I have to steer the peach. Can't quit...now.
--> '''Mr. Grasshopper:''' Good show, old boy.
--> (Mr. Grasshopper moves Mr. Centipede to the other side of the peach)
--> '''Mr. Centipede:''' (sleepily) Thanks...Mr. Grasshopper...
--> '''Mr. Grasshopper:''' (puts the blanket over Centipede and smiles at him as he dozes off to sleep)

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: The film retains the basic personalities of all the characters from the novel, with the exception of Ms. Spider. Wheras in the novel, she was more of a GenkiGirl (though not as much as Ms. Ladybug), the film turns her into a snarky French chick who isn't one to be messed with.

---> The furniture went sliding across the room, and crashing into the wall. So did James and the Ladybird and the Old-Green-Grasshopper and the Earthworm and Miss Spider and the Glow-worm and the Silkworm and also the Centipede, who had just come slithering quickly down the wall.

* RunningGag: The centipede's forty-two boots.

** He will not go outdoors without his boots on.
** His boots are ruined when he falls into the ocean.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Centipede after getting the peach lost and overhearing the others talk about how they're going to die in the Arctic. It's this that encourages him to jump into the frozen waters in search of a compass.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Centipede is seen beginning to fend off hordes of pirate zombies underwater before James and Miss Spider pull away to the surface, along with the camera shot. Cue the DeadHatShot that indicates a HeroicSacrifice.[[spoiler:..until Centipede also emerges from the water, completely alive and unscathed.]]

* SecondPersonAttack: At the end of the peach party song, with peach goo.

* LongList: The peach gets caught up in a massive cloudburst, and rainwater comes pouring down upon them, bouncing and smashing and sloshing and slashing and swashing and swirling and surging and whirling and gurgling and gushing and rushing and rushing.

* ChildHater: The aunts hate James and spend every waking moment abusing him. But one early scene shows they might hate all children. Remember that little girl they kicked out (''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney without refunding her family]]'') just because [[DisproportionateRetribution she wanted to touch the peach]]!?

** Miss Spider tells the story of why she detests paint: when Aunt Spiker had painted the kitchen ceiling, Miss Spider's poor darling grandmother stepped into it by mistake while it was still wet, and there she stuck; and she remained so for six months.

** And it's not the first time Creator/JoannaLumley plays a [[Series/AbsolutelyFabulous horrible wench]].

* AutomatonHorses: Or birds; James's plan to make the peach fly is based around lassoing hundreds of passing seagulls with silk nooses to lift it out of the water... after which they never give the birds another thought until it's time to start cutting them loose to descend, as they apparently all continue to fly mindlessly all the way to New York, rather than, say, getting tired from the endless flight and flying down to rest on top of the peach.

* CardCarryingJerkass: The centipede is proud of being a "pest"-- this partly refers to his being a pest species, but also to his arrogant attitude. For instance, when the other bugs were talking about beneficial things their species do, the centipede gloats that his species does nothing good and he's a pest.
* CarnivoreConfusion: There's a bit of a disconnect with a spider and a centipede being amongst the other invertebrates. This is even lampshaded in the film, with Ms. Spider noting how the peach tastes "better than ladybugs" (with Mrs. Ladybug getting understandibly miffed). This makes some sense, since they all just recently gained their sentience and would presumably have behaved like normal invertebrates before the crocodile tongues came along.

* TheEeyore: The Earthworm, who predicts their death by starvation, and being eaten by sharks.

* ExtremeOmnivore: In both versions of the story, when the group realise they can just eat the abundant flesh of their giant peach, they celebrate by singing a song about various impossible dishes they have tried and enjoyed. The versions [[http://www.romanization.com/personal/randy/eating_the_peach.html differ somewhat between book and film]][[note]]Some of the verses in the book were omitted from the movie[[/note]], but are all quite... exotic.

* HeyYou: James gets called a number of names by Spiker and Sponge. According to the narrator they never actually referred to him by name.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:How the peach lands; it gets speared on the end of the Empire State Building.]]

** After finding a compass, Mr. Centipede takes his task very seriously to a point where he fends off of sleep so they won't get off course like what happened. As he tries so hard not to doze off, Mr. Grasshopper (who knocked one of his teeth out in anger) makes it up to Centipede by relieving him of his post. By bring him a chair and blanket and playing him off to sleep with his violin.
--> '''Mr. Grasshopper:''' I say, old sport. Came to relieve you of your duties.
--> '''Mr. Centipede:''' (sleepily) I said I steer the peach. have to steer the peach. Can't quit...now.