Series of Unfortunate Events[2004]
Starring:
Jim Carrey
Liam Aiken
Emily Browning
average rating: ★★★
~
performance: ★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★
cinematography: ★★★★
~
Fantasy/Adventure
This was an adaption of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, the series that seemed to capture the world of preteen literature for a while there. I read the first four or so books in the series and, being a girl who likes happy endings, dumped them as weird and stupid. Now, however, I have to say I've a certain respect for the author.
And this movie seemed a pure reflection of all he might have imagined. To begin with, the set & costume design was amazing, and the Oscar's thought so too, because the won an award in that category. Everything was grimy and vintage and just delicious, and it set the mood from the very beginning - that being of a mysterious, dark, depressing sort of mood.
The movie begins with Jude Law's yummy voice, narrating as Lemony Snicket. The Baudelaire children, Violet (Browning) the Inventor, Klaus (Aiken) the Scholar, and Sunny the Biter, are part of a wealthy family, and then suddenly, they are not, they are the Baudelaire orphans with no direct relations to live with. Timothy Spall plays the clueless lawyer in charge of their lives, Mr. Poe, who brings them to a man named Count Olaf (Carrey) who is apparently their closest relation. Olaf's house is cool, a rickety broken down place with lots of mold and dead rats and ragged curtains. Jim Carrey himself is great, playing a role that is just Jim Carrey's silly role - the malicious, mood-swingy, terrible actor of a man trying to adopt the children in order to gain their immense fortune.
The movie is actually a compilation of Lemony Snicket's first three novels, so after the evil Count Olaf attempts to murder the children, they are taken away to live with another distant relative, Professor Monty (Billy Connolly) who works with snakes. After a brief, kind of lame adventure that leaves Monty dead, they stay with a paranoid Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep). After about four minutes with her, tragedy strikes again and they seem to have been caught by Olaf yet again, this time for good, but then the day is saved and Olaf defeated and their lives generally plunged into a uncertain future.
The end.
The entire film is occasionally interspersed with Jude Law's voice, telling us what's going on, and trying to bridge the gaps and make the extreme speed with which the movie travels more believable. It doesn't quite work and the story is not finished, that you can tell. In general, however, the characters were fun and the situations sometimes entertaining, but mostly it was a visually good film.
Jim Carrey
Liam Aiken
Emily Browning
average rating: ★★★
~
performance: ★★★
screenplay: ★★★★
plot/storyline: ★★
cinematography: ★★★★
~
Fantasy/Adventure
This was an adaption of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, the series that seemed to capture the world of preteen literature for a while there. I read the first four or so books in the series and, being a girl who likes happy endings, dumped them as weird and stupid. Now, however, I have to say I've a certain respect for the author.
And this movie seemed a pure reflection of all he might have imagined. To begin with, the set & costume design was amazing, and the Oscar's thought so too, because the won an award in that category. Everything was grimy and vintage and just delicious, and it set the mood from the very beginning - that being of a mysterious, dark, depressing sort of mood.
The movie begins with Jude Law's yummy voice, narrating as Lemony Snicket. The Baudelaire children, Violet (Browning) the Inventor, Klaus (Aiken) the Scholar, and Sunny the Biter, are part of a wealthy family, and then suddenly, they are not, they are the Baudelaire orphans with no direct relations to live with. Timothy Spall plays the clueless lawyer in charge of their lives, Mr. Poe, who brings them to a man named Count Olaf (Carrey) who is apparently their closest relation. Olaf's house is cool, a rickety broken down place with lots of mold and dead rats and ragged curtains. Jim Carrey himself is great, playing a role that is just Jim Carrey's silly role - the malicious, mood-swingy, terrible actor of a man trying to adopt the children in order to gain their immense fortune.
The movie is actually a compilation of Lemony Snicket's first three novels, so after the evil Count Olaf attempts to murder the children, they are taken away to live with another distant relative, Professor Monty (Billy Connolly) who works with snakes. After a brief, kind of lame adventure that leaves Monty dead, they stay with a paranoid Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep). After about four minutes with her, tragedy strikes again and they seem to have been caught by Olaf yet again, this time for good, but then the day is saved and Olaf defeated and their lives generally plunged into a uncertain future.
The end.
The entire film is occasionally interspersed with Jude Law's voice, telling us what's going on, and trying to bridge the gaps and make the extreme speed with which the movie travels more believable. It doesn't quite work and the story is not finished, that you can tell. In general, however, the characters were fun and the situations sometimes entertaining, but mostly it was a visually good film.
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