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After the overwhelming success of
the Harry Potter movies, who wouldn’t want to jump on the bandwagon and produce a
dark movie about kids fighting against creepy evil guys? So filmmakers took A Series
of Unfortunate Events (read a review of the first book in the
series), an ever-growing series of creepy books with cult-like following, and turned the
first three books into a movie. After all, if J. K. Rowling can do it, why not Lemony
Snicket?
At the beginning of the movie, the storyteller, Lemony Snicket
(voiced by Jude Law), warns the audience that what they’re about to see will be dark and
scary and creepy—and, if they can’t handle it, there’s still time to leave and see
something else. From there, he begins his story—an unfortunate story about the
Baudelaire children, whose parents are killed when their house mysteriously burns down.
The three children—brainy fourteen-year-old inventor Violet (Emily Browning), bookworm
Klaus (Liam Aiken), and baby Sunny (Kara and Shelby Hoffman)—are sent to live with a
distant relative, Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), a devious actor who’s more interested in the
children’s enormous fortune than in the children themselves. As the children try to
escape Olaf’s plan to get his hands on their money, they move from one guardian to
another—first Uncle Montgomery Montgomery (Billy Connolly), then paranoid Aunt Josephine
(Meryl Streep). And they begin to realize that their parents’ death may not have been an
accident.
Unfortunate Events has plenty of things going for it.
It’s dark and creepy, and the design is breathtaking. The sets and the costumes and the
makeup and the effects—spectacular. The cast, too, is worth watching—especially Carrey
(who’s often rather hit-or-miss), who gives the role just the right amount of
over-the-top.
The problem, however, is the story. It never really comes
together—and there are a whole lot of holes when it ends (in a conclusion that’s
especially anti-climactic). I had to rely on the cool scenery to keep my attention. I
have a feeling, though, that there’s a lot more to the story—and those who adapted the
screenplay just made some unfortunate choices.
Finally, it’s hard
to really call this a kids’ movie. It’s like Harry Potter movies—only
without any of the fun, happy parts. It’s Harry Potter meets Tim Burton. There are
snakes and deadly leeches and an evil Jim Carrey. The little girl who sat next to me in
the theater was very obviously (and very loudly) terrified during parts of it. So
rent this movie for the visual effects. But if it’s a good story you want, I have a
feeling you’re better off sticking with the books. In fact, I think I may check them out
myself.
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