Is it just me or are children's films now more scary than when I was a lass? The film is another adaptation of a book to screen, and there are many cries of "Harry Potter bandwagon" from people who care to comment.
Watching the film on the spur of the moment I was pleased to watch the tail unfold and yet slightly disappointed by the obvious serialisation aspects of the tale. Don't fret when I tell you that there will be no less than thirteen (I believe eleven are out now) Lemony Snicket books! After doing my research it seems that this film alone covers the first three of these.
Directed by Brad Silberling (of "Casper" fame) the film is dark and moody with hilariously noir-ish comedy. There is not much pause for contemplation but with a run time of less than two hours it is not as challenging to watch as an extended Lord of the Rings movie chapter. Apart from the over the top acting by certain cast members, the computer graphics and special effects once again take centre stage.
The plot is revealed to us second hand from the mysterious writer Lemony Snicket he tells us about the Baudelaire family, and demise of the family home and parents therein. From here on it is a story of survival, a freakish rights of passage movie if you like. Fortunately the three Baudelaire children are very resourceful, Violet (who is a great inventor), Klaus (who has read almost everything about every subject), and toddler Sunny (who likes to bite things). The initial fall-out from the disaster leads the children into custody of their Uncle Count Olaf, a failed thesp. and played in the film by the ever amusing Jim Carrey. As we immediately discover Count Olaf is only intent on claiming the childrens' inheritance as soon as possible, and by whatever means. So from here the children routinely change homes with the fearsome Count in hot pursuit.
The film has many outstanding performances, not only from the assembled actors, Billy Connolly, Meryl Streep, and Timothy Spall to name but three, but also from the young actors playing the children. The effects and visual style are incredibly similar to Tim Burton films, but let's face facts it is probably the only appropriate style for this type of story. Overall however it just slightly misses the top marks, the climax of the film did not quite have the good pace of the rest of the story, which was a shame - but I will be watching the remainder of the films, or maybe I should switch to the books now?
***1/2 (out of 5)
