Lemony Snicket's A Series
of Unfortunate Events
reviewed by Brian "The Naked Gun" Felts
The movie
is based on famous children's books written by Daniel Handler. I have never read the books, so I
don't know how close the movie follows the them. However, after watching the movie, it would appear
the books do not transfer well onto film.
The premise of the story is, three children, whose parents are killed in a mysterious fire,
are turned over to their cousin, an actor, named Count Olaf, played by Jim Carrey (Bruce Almighty).
Olaf does not hide the fact he is trying to get rid of the children in order to inherit the
enormous wealth left by their parents.
After trying to get them killed in a car/train
"accident," the kids get transferred to another relative, an Uncle Monty, played by Billy
Connolly (The Last Samurai). However, he is killed by Count Olaf disguised as a scientist.
The kids are then turned over to their Aunt, Josephine, played by Meryl Streep (The Manchurian
Candidate). Yes, you guessed right. She too is also killed by Count Olaf.
The climatic scene of the
movie is when Olaf discovers, if he marries the oldest of the three children, being 14-year old Violet, played
by Emily Browning (Ned Kelly), he will inherit the parents' wealth. So, he produces a play
in which he will marry Violet, while all those watching think the wedding is not real. See what I
mean? Dark, but not very funny.
I would like to give kudos to director Brad Siberling, who has also directed "City of Angeles."
He did a nice job of mixing in the narrator of the story, being Lemony Snicket, voiced by Jude Law
(Alfie--and every movie that came out this year), in such a way to help explain the story.
The acting
was nice, but since all adult characters were written over the top, especially Count Olaf,
I did not find any of them enjoyable. I feel Carrey did the best he could with the role of
Count Olaf, but it appears to be such a difficult role, I don't know if anybody could have
pulled it off. I would liked to have seen Robin Williams in the part. The two child
actors, Emily Browning and Liam Aiken (Road to Perdition), who played the middle child Klaus,
were quite enjoyable.
From what I have been told by a friend, the movie stays pretty close to the books. So, if you like
the books, by all means go see the movie. If you haven't, I think there are better movies out
there.
Brian - the Naked Gun
I thought "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" had a great production design, and for the most
part, was directed well by Silberling (Moonlight Mile). However, I think the best parts of its story left
too many "Why?" questions.
The most exciting aspect of the storyline for me was the mystery unraveling around the secret society, which the
Baudelaire childrens' parents supposedly belonged to. We were given clues about the society throughout the picture,
but in the end, I never got a grasp on what the soceity was actually for.
They were investigating fires. That's all we were told, and the Baudelaire parents made some discovery, which we
never got to here.
In the final minutes of the movie, the silhouhette of Lemony Snicket, voice by Jude Law, finishes his writing
and hoists the finished story into a hiding place in a clock tower. Uh, why? We also learned Snicket was a
member of this secret society, so why was telling the Baudelaire children's story important to him if he's
just going to hide the document where no one will find it?
Lemony Snicket is telling the story, and at the start of the picture, he says he and his colleagues never
discovered the cause of the Baudelaire fire. However, in the climax of the movie, Klaus DOES discover the
source of the fire. So, Snicket MUST have known the cause to write it in his document of the events.
Again, why did Snicket feel it was his duty to document this whole thing, then hide it? What is the purpose
of that society? These answers may be in the books the picture is based on, but certainly not in the picture
itself.
Outside of these problems, which are big ones for me, the picture was visually interesting. The production
design was the film's greatest strength.
I agree with Brian that child actors Emily Browning and Liam Aiken deserve more work. Together, they made
the picture sparkle.
Jim Carrey was okay at best in my opinion. He did exactly what he was hired to do, but he didn't exactly wow me.
I really enjoyed the picture's opening involving this overly happy animated short, titled "The Little Elf," until
Snicket's voice stepped in and explained that kind of story was not going to be found in this film. It really
took me by surprise. For a good 30 seconds, I was having a "What the f**k is this?" moment. It gave me a laugh.
The only other thing I didn't like about the picture was, I got the feeling the production couldn't decide whether
it was a period piece or not. We get to see all these dated buildings and costumes, but the characters consistently
used contemporary vernacular language. It was confusing. Also, for a good portion of the film, I couldn't tell if
the picture was set in England or the U.S.
With Law narrating the whole thing, Billy Connelly and his accent, and Timothy Spall (Rock Star) as Mr. Poe, the
Baudelaire executor, there were several UK accents in the picture. The children and Streep had American accents. I
was confused as to where the story was placed, until I finally saw it was set in Boston.
I think "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" is just weird enough for you to make an effort to see, but
it's genre escapes me. I'm with Brian. I have a problem describing this as a child's movie.
I can't think of what audience may be jumping at this kind of material. Maybe the same audience which embraced
"The Nightmare Before Christmas." It does have a sort of "goth" feel to it, both in story and in design. Otherwise,
I have to shrug my shoulders at the whole thing and say, "Good luck."
Honestly, I did not have the greatest moviegoing experience on this one, since I had three retarded Brittish teen
girls sitting behind me, each of whom felt the absolute need to point out every OBVIOUS plot point to each other. I
SO miss the U.S.
Benn - Where's the Humanity?
This is an incredibly gloomy movie, and I for one am not sure it's a children's movie, even though
I went during the day and the majority of the audience was children. From the previews, I thought
"Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" would be a dark comedy. Well, I was half right.
It was dark, but I did not laugh a lot.