History YMMV / JamesAndTheGiantPeach

** Here's how it could have worked in the movie: the rhino was an eldritch abomination that the old man was put in charge of locking up. But it escaped one night due to his carelessness, and when it entered earth, it killed James' parents merely because they were the first people it saw, but not James because it did not notice him. There also could have been a subplot about the authorities not believing James about the rhino's true self and assuming that the shock of seeing an ordinary rhino eat his parents traumatized him so much that he imaged the rhino that way. It also would have explained why the old man wanted to help James escape, since HE was indirectly responsible for his parents' death.

** James begins his adventure by entering a fantastical ribbed tunnel to a strange house, at the climax, he has to run to safety as platforms are being torn away beneath his feet, and he defiantly shouts "no, I'm not!" in the final confrontation. All of these are also experiences that the eponymous heroine of a {{WesternAnimation/Coraline later Selick film]] will have.

* UnexpectedCharacter: [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Jack Skellington]] shows up as the captain of the skeleton pirates. Henry Selik and Creator/TimBurton worked on both films and the model for Jack was reused for the pirate captain.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The concept of turning the ordinary rhino that killed James' parents in the book into a Chernabog-esque Eldrich abomination itself was not a bad idea and could have worked perfectly. The trouble was that the writers were far too lazy with executing it, not giving it any backstory or apparent motive, making the concept confusing. Why did it attack James parents in the first place? Were the aunts aware that it was a cloud monster in the beginning, or just taunting him? Why did the rhino wait until the group reached New York to attack them as opposed to earlier? Was it even real or just James' imagination?

* CrossesTheLineTwice: In true Creator/RoaldDahl fashion, James' parents abruptly getting eaten by a rhinoceros at the beginning of the story is so deliberately absurd that it's near-impossible to find it all that tragic.

** Here's how it could have worked in the movie: the rhino was an eldritch abomination that the old man was put in charge of locking up. But it escaped one night due to his carelessness, and when it entered earth, it killed James' parents merely because they were the first people it saw, but not James because it did not notice him. There also could have been a subplot about the authorities not believing James about the rhino's true self and assuming that the shock of seeing an ordinary rhino eat his parents traumatized him so much that he imaged the rhino that way. It also would have explained why the old man wanted to help James escape, since HE was indirectly responsible for his parents death.

** Mr. Centipede, at least in the movie, could be seen as a JerkassWoobie if you read his boisterous attitude as mostly bravado; it's hard not to feel for him after he accidentally steers the ship off-course and the other bugs shun him.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The concept of turning the ordinary rhino that killed James' parents in the book into a Chernabog-esque Eldrich abomination itself was not a bad idea and could have worked perfectly. The trouble was that the writers were far too lazy with executing it, not giving it any backstory or apparent motive, making the concept confusing. Why did it attack James parents in the first place? Were the aunts aware that it was a cloud monster in the beginning, or just taunting him? Why did the rhino wait until the group reached New York to attack them as opposed to earlier? Was it even real or just James imagination?
** Here's how it could have worked in the movie: the rhino was an eldritch abomination that the old man was put in charge of locking up. But it escaped one night due to his carelessness, and when it entered earth, it killed James' parents merely because they were the first people it saw, but not James because it did not notice him. There also could have been a subplot about the authorities not believing James about the rhino's true self and assuming that the shock of seeing an ordinary rhino eat his parents traumatized him so much that he imaged the rhino that way. It also would have explained why the old man wanted to help James escape, since HE was indirectly responsible for his parents death.
* UnexpectedCharacter: [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Jack Skellington]] shows up as the captain of the skeleton pirates. Henry Selik and Creator/TimBurton worked on both films and the model for Jack was reused for the pirate captain.
* WhatAnIdiot:
** Centipede [[BullyingTheDragon insulting the Cloud People in the book]].
** In the movie, the aunts try to escape in their car when the peach rolls free instead of simply ''stepping out of the way''. Needless to say, they're lucky their stupidity didn't get them killed.

** The undead pirate scene, which is led by [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Jack Skellington]], has an expy of DonaldDuck among his crew. Six years later, ''VideoGame/{{Kingdom Hearts|I}}'' was released, with Donald as one of the main characters and Halloween Town being a playable world, with Jack serving as it's GuestStarPartyMember. Likewise, the main party become undead there, though Donald is turned into a {{Mummy}} instead. Even more hilarious in the French dub of the film; Sora and James share [[Creator/DonaldReignoux a voice actor]]!

** Mr. Centipede, at least in the movie, could be seen as a JerkAssWoobie if you read his boisterous attitude as mostly bravado; it's hard not to feel for him after he accidentally steers the ship off-course and the other bugs shun him.

* AwesomeMusic: "Good News" and "We're Family" by Randy Newman.

** The undead pirate scene, which is lead by [[{{WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas}} Jack Skellington]], has an expy of DonaldDuck among his crew. Six years later, ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Kingdom Hearts]]'' was released, with Donald as one of the main characters and Halloween Town being a playable world, with Jack serving as it's GuestStarPartyMember. Likewise, the main party become undead there, though Donald is turned into a {{Mummy}} instead. Even more hilarious in the French dub of the film; Sora and James share [[Creator/DonaldReignoux a voice actor]]!
** A giant mechanical shark tried to take down the peach? No wonder [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Grunty imprisoned him in her lair]]. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation That monster is dangerous]]!

* MoralEventHorizon: Both Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker are abusive legal guardians towards James in the movie. However, they finally cross it when they outright attempt to '''MURDER''' him [[AxeCrazy with axes]] (with all of New York City watching, no less)!

** A few of the special effects are [[SpecialEffectsFailure quite unconvincing]], such as the clearly wooden seagull puppets, the clearly cgi-mechanical shark and ocean water, and the clearly painted backdrops used for NYC.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The concept of turning the ordinary rhino that killed James' parents in the book into a Chernabog-esque Eldrich abomination itself was not a bad idea and could have worked perfectly.The trouble was that the writers were far too lazy with executing it, not giving it any backstory or apparent motive, making the concept confusing. Why did it attack James parents in the first place? Were the aunts aware that it was a cloud monster in the beginning, or just taunting him? Why did the rhino wait until the group reached New York to attack them as opposed to earlier? Was it even real or just James imagination?
** Here's how it could have worked in the movie: the rhino was an eldritch abomination that the old man was put in charge of locking up. But it escaped one night due to his carelessness, and when it entered earth, it killed James parents merely because they were the first people it saw, but not James because it did not notice him. There also could have been a subplot about the authorities not believing James about the rhino's true self and assuming that the shock of seeing an ordinary rhino eat his parents traumatized him so much that he imaged the rhino that way. It also would have explained why the old man wanted to help James escape, since HE was indirectly responsible for his parents death.

** Centipede [[BullyingTheDragon insulting the Cloud People in the book.]]

*** Taken [[UpToEleven]] in the musical. We first see James in an orphanage having a nightmare about his parents' deaths. Then, the Matron Nurse tells him he's leaving the orphanage to go live with his aunts, whom he's never met while telling him not to be a nuisance because he can't ever go back to the orphanage. Spiker and Sponge take every opportunity to taunt James AND his deceased parents, call him worthless and threaten to put him down a well as punishment. To top it off, they destroy James's mother's scarf and his father's glasses IN FRONT OF HIM while telling him he has to sleep outside. And the best part? He's between the ages of six and eight (like the book), as the musical confirms James is young enough to still be afraid of the dark. By the time James has his second nightmare on the peach and tells the insects that his parents are dead, he's pretty much on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Thank goodness "Everywhere That You Are" starts up.

Here's how it could have worked in the movie: the rhino was an eldetrich abomination that the old man was put in charge of locking up. But it escaped one night due to his carelessness, and when it entered earth, it killed James parents merely because they were the first people it saw, but not James because it did not notice him. There also could have been a subplot about the authorities not believing James about the rhino's true self and assuming that the shock of seeing an ordinary rhino eat his parents traumatized him so much that he imaged the rhino that way. It also would have explained why the old man wanted to help James escape, since HE was indirectly responsible for his parents death.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The notion of turning the ordinary rhinocerous that ate James' parents from the book into a demonic being from the clouds was not a bad one and had quite a bit of potential, but the writers were a bit too lazy in executing it, resulting in its role in the film being confusing.

** The backgrounds in New York City are very obviously painted backdrops.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The notion of turning the ordinary rhinocerous that ate James' parents from the book into a demonic being from the clouds was actually not a bad one, but the writers were a bit too lazy in executing it, resulting in its role being confusing.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:

** The undead pirate scene, which is lead by [[{{WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas}} Jack Skellington]], has an expy of DonaldDuck among his crew. Six years later, ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI Kingdom Hearts]]'' was released, with Donald as one of the main characters and Halloween Town being a playable world, with Jack serving as it's GuestStarPartyMember. Likewise, the main party become undead there, though Donald is turned into a {{Mummy}} instead.
*** Even more hilarious in the French dub of the film; Sora and James share [[Creator/DonaldReignoux a voice actor]]!

** Depending on how you view it, the ''entire film'' could be this or NarmCharm due to the heavy-handed nature of some of the scenes and some of the music.

* TheWoobie: James. Poor, poor James. He had such GoodParents, until they died and his evil aunts took him in. You can guess how well THAT went for him.
** Worse, while watching his aunts publicize the giant peach, kids are present there. However, James is forbidden to leave the house, and he sheds a tear as the only possible friends he would make just come and go.

* WhatAnIdiot: Centipede [[BullyingTheDragon insulting the Cloud People in the book.]]

** Miss Spider can also come across as this in the book. It's hard to not feel bad for her when she confesses that she doesn't understand why people hate spiders, or when she bursts into tears in the middle of talking about her relatives that were killed in front of her. Her film counterpart, while more of a DeadpanSnarker, also has some shades of woobiness as well; she isolates herself because she's aware the other bugs fear and distrust her, and she admits that she doesn't know what it's like to have friends.

** Miss Spider can also come across as this in the book. It's hard not to feel bad for her when she confesses that she doesn't understand why people hate spiders, or when she starts crying while talking about how her relatives were killed in front of her. Her film counterpart, while more of a DeadpanSnarker, also has some shades of woobiness as well; she isolates herself because she's aware that the other bugs fear and distrust her, and she admits that she doesn't know what it's like to have friends.

* AwesomeMusic: "Good News," by Randy Newman.

* WhatAnIdiot: Centipede [[BullyingTheDragon insulting the Cloud People in the book.]]

** Miss Spider can also come across as this in the book. It's hard not to feel bad for her when she confesses that she doesn't understand why people hate spiders, or when she starts crying while talking about how her relatives were killed in front of her. Her film counterpart, while more of a DeadpanSnarker, also has some shades of woobiness as well; she isolates herself because she's aware the other bugs fear and distrust her, and she admits that she doesn't know what it's like to have friends.

** Miss Spider can also come across as this in the book. It's hard not to feel bad for her when she confesses that she doesn't understand why people hate spiders, or when she starts crying while talking about how her relatives were killed in front of her.

* CrossesTheLineTwice: James' parents abruptly gets eaten by a rhinoceros at the beginning of the story. While having your parents die at a young age is never pleasant, the situation is so absurd, part of you can't help but laugh a little.

* * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: At one point, a giant bat flies past the peach, spooking the passengers. This is never brought up again.