Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Imagine the world of Tim Burton
toned down a notch or two and you'll have a pretty
good idea of the world envisioned in "Lemony Snicket's
A Series of Unfortunate Events." This is a film that
is dark and atmospheric and certainly not "delightful
children's entertainment," as a joke throughout the
film consistently reminds us. But it builds on Burton,
the Harry Potter series of films and even "The Lord
of the Rings" trilogy to evolve into the next wave
of family entertainment, a film that is just dark
enough to be edgy and just honest enough to be compelling
without ever becoming either too weird or too saccharine.
And it's quite a witty and clever
film as well. The fortunate thing is that the script,
based on a series of children's books, is quite wonderful.
This is an interesting story and a remarkably wonderfully
inventive world we are allowed to visit. Added on
top of this the delightful performances of Jim Carrey
and Billy Connolly (sadly the same can't be said for
Meryl Streep) to make the film nothing but zealous
fun.
Carrey is really perfect here. He
plays a character that has to be a complete ham. After
all, he is an untalented actor. And so Carrey can
mug and cavort and chew up the scenery with abandon
and it is nothing but fun. Of course, his remarks
and asides here are just hilarious. Even kids will
get most of them but the parents will be truly delighted.
This is a "family film" in the best sense of the word.
Kids will be captivated by a story and film that refuses
to talk down to them. And adults will be charmed by
just how witty and charming everything is. (Hell,
even the narration by Jude Law is clever and creative).
The looks of the film is simply
gorgeous with so much attention to detail spent on
sets, props and locales that even Burton himself would
be awed. The special effects here always work to serve
the story and we are consistently amused and amazed
by what we see as much as what we hear.
If there is any problem with the
film, it is the two children here, who are about as
lackluster as you can imagine. Of course, they are
the only normal people in the film. Still, Emily Browning
and Liam Aiken should at least seem interested in
what's going on here. Browning at least tries but
Aiken doesn't seem to care one iota. While the rest
of the actors in the film speak in a robust, highly
stylized manner giving the film an air of dramatic
urgency, Aiken sounds like he just came in of the
street and picked up the script yesterday. Although
he is adorable, his acting here drains the life out
of nearly every scene that revolves around him.
Still, nothing could undo the charms
that director Brad Silberling lavishes on the film.
With his attention to detail and Carrey's wonderful
humor saturating the film, it wins us over despite
Aiken's worst efforts.
Notes:
In English and child's gibberish
with subtitles.
Also with Timothy Spall, Catherine
O'Hara, Cedric the Entertainer, Lenny Clark and Dustin
Hoffman. Luis Guzman, Jennifer Coolidge, Craig Ferguson,
and Jane Adams are nearly unrecognizable in heavy
make-up as a part of Carrey's acting troupe and have
very little to do here.
Barry Sonnenfeld and Scott Rudin
are producers here although they were only attached
to the film early on. The score is by Thomas Newman
and a wonderful new piece by him is used under the
credits at the end.
Based on a series of books by Daniel
Handler who writes them under the name Lemony Snicket.
The script by Robert Gordon is based on the first
three of the series; "The Bad Beginning," "The Reptile
Room" and "The Wide Window." There are currently 11
books in the series and it is said that it is to be
finished with 13 works.
At one time the film was just to
be called "Lemony Snicket."
Viewed in Austin in December 2004.
