Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events (C+ or 2/4 stars)
'Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events' is a sinister fantasy film, directed by Brad Silberling and, it is adapted from 3 books from the Snicket series. In short, the film tells the tale of 3 orphaned siblings, The Baudelaires, & a series of unfortunate events that happen to them. Jim Carrey stars as Count Olaf, the Baudelaires' distant cousin. He is to take the children into his home. But he knows that they come from $$ & hopes to kill them and collect inheritance. It is a pessimistic film, & one that children ages 7 and older could follow & enjoy. But I think I expected way more.
When the Baudelaire orphans catch on to Olaf's wicked plans, they escape (literally, before a train plows their car down). Next, they find themselves under the wings of Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly, great character actor). But we soon realize that Monty is crazy & owns an array of carnivorous creatures. Monty's python seemed particularly interested in the siblings. Onward, the Baudelaires land at Aunt Josephine's (Meryl Streep) creaky, decrepit doorstep. Literally, her home looms tediously over a jagged cliff that overlooks the turbulent ocean below. Josephine is a dear woman but not fit to tend to children due to her extreme case of phobiaphobia (she is scared of everything). The irony here, of course, is that she lives on danger's ledge. There is one ludicrous but faintly funny scene where Josephine is trapped in a cave & is acting highly irrational. She's pathetic, but it is her best quality. I won't go into much more detail about this film as it would give away too many unfortunate events. Not that any of them stirred me in my seat.
The book series Lemony Snicket is macabre in nature. But this film isn't as gloomy as it ought to be. It even has a sort of misplaced happy ending that is completely anti-climatic. It gives hope to several characters who may have had less fortune in the books. And according to my 9 yr. old sister, Nicole, the film sloppily includes parts from the other books into this one movie & took out pivotal parts of book one. Many films are not faithful to the book(s). But it appears in most reviews, & most importantly, to my sister, that it hurts the flow of the movie.
I love Jim Carrey, but he's over-the-top here. He shows off too much; it was actually relentless. The film stops & starts in its tracks because of his in-your-face folly. His role calls for Olaf to be greedy & selfish, but there is little to enjoy about him being nasty. He could have toned his actions down & made us hate him for being a bad guy, not for being incredibly annoying. Really, his portrayal was a detriment and an unfortunate event in & of itself. Streep is her usual chameleon-like self. She's entertaining, in a completely frenetic way. And while I chuckled at her lunacy as she rolled atop a rock in a cave, this just confirmed my feeling that the movie is ridiculous. I typically like these types of fantastical films; but this was a bit of a mess.
The 3 siblings aren't successful in easing my pain. Liam Aiken (of Stepmom) lacks energy & delivers his lines as if a firing squad were aimed at him at 1st misstep. Emily Browning is, perhaps, the most impressive of the 3. The look of the movie goes to show that it is almost as if more time & energy went into the visuals in order to thwart attention away from the uninspired screenplay & shoddy acting. The visuals are very cool, but they also kind of lay there on screen rather than serving great purpose. Perhaps I was not in the right frame of mind when I viewed 'Lemony Snicket'. And while I realize that this movie is geared more towards children, I do not think it is a quality film in adult OR kids' standards.
Just to double back a moment, I must give some credit to Emmanuel Lubezki's camera work, Rick Heinrichs' richly-detailed fantasy sets, Colleen Atwood's varied costumes, the zany hair/make-up work, the crisp sound design, some interesting visual effects, & Thomas Newman's melancholy music score. But to sum up my overall feelings, I was a bit bored & underwhelmed. The film lacks the essential imagination, originality & personality that we saw in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, & Big Fish/Burtonesque adaptations. There's an imbalance with the performances & the script. The characters play too much for the camera, & the children are unnaturally composed for being in the situation they're in; always in a daze concerning their misfortunes.
I have not read the Lemony Snicket books, but after seeing the film, I have no intention of picking them up. To me, reading these books would be a TRULY unfortunate event.
When the Baudelaire orphans catch on to Olaf's wicked plans, they escape (literally, before a train plows their car down). Next, they find themselves under the wings of Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly, great character actor). But we soon realize that Monty is crazy & owns an array of carnivorous creatures. Monty's python seemed particularly interested in the siblings. Onward, the Baudelaires land at Aunt Josephine's (Meryl Streep) creaky, decrepit doorstep. Literally, her home looms tediously over a jagged cliff that overlooks the turbulent ocean below. Josephine is a dear woman but not fit to tend to children due to her extreme case of phobiaphobia (she is scared of everything). The irony here, of course, is that she lives on danger's ledge. There is one ludicrous but faintly funny scene where Josephine is trapped in a cave & is acting highly irrational. She's pathetic, but it is her best quality. I won't go into much more detail about this film as it would give away too many unfortunate events. Not that any of them stirred me in my seat.
The book series Lemony Snicket is macabre in nature. But this film isn't as gloomy as it ought to be. It even has a sort of misplaced happy ending that is completely anti-climatic. It gives hope to several characters who may have had less fortune in the books. And according to my 9 yr. old sister, Nicole, the film sloppily includes parts from the other books into this one movie & took out pivotal parts of book one. Many films are not faithful to the book(s). But it appears in most reviews, & most importantly, to my sister, that it hurts the flow of the movie.
I love Jim Carrey, but he's over-the-top here. He shows off too much; it was actually relentless. The film stops & starts in its tracks because of his in-your-face folly. His role calls for Olaf to be greedy & selfish, but there is little to enjoy about him being nasty. He could have toned his actions down & made us hate him for being a bad guy, not for being incredibly annoying. Really, his portrayal was a detriment and an unfortunate event in & of itself. Streep is her usual chameleon-like self. She's entertaining, in a completely frenetic way. And while I chuckled at her lunacy as she rolled atop a rock in a cave, this just confirmed my feeling that the movie is ridiculous. I typically like these types of fantastical films; but this was a bit of a mess.
The 3 siblings aren't successful in easing my pain. Liam Aiken (of Stepmom) lacks energy & delivers his lines as if a firing squad were aimed at him at 1st misstep. Emily Browning is, perhaps, the most impressive of the 3. The look of the movie goes to show that it is almost as if more time & energy went into the visuals in order to thwart attention away from the uninspired screenplay & shoddy acting. The visuals are very cool, but they also kind of lay there on screen rather than serving great purpose. Perhaps I was not in the right frame of mind when I viewed 'Lemony Snicket'. And while I realize that this movie is geared more towards children, I do not think it is a quality film in adult OR kids' standards.
Just to double back a moment, I must give some credit to Emmanuel Lubezki's camera work, Rick Heinrichs' richly-detailed fantasy sets, Colleen Atwood's varied costumes, the zany hair/make-up work, the crisp sound design, some interesting visual effects, & Thomas Newman's melancholy music score. But to sum up my overall feelings, I was a bit bored & underwhelmed. The film lacks the essential imagination, originality & personality that we saw in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, & Big Fish/Burtonesque adaptations. There's an imbalance with the performances & the script. The characters play too much for the camera, & the children are unnaturally composed for being in the situation they're in; always in a daze concerning their misfortunes.
I have not read the Lemony Snicket books, but after seeing the film, I have no intention of picking them up. To me, reading these books would be a TRULY unfortunate event.