A Series of Unfortunate Events

Unfortunate May Be The Key Word



In the modern day where Harry Potter and Twilight are the most talked about book series, it wouldn't surprise me if a fair amount of people have never heard of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. I have read through the first four books, and plan to finish the rest someday. The books will never leave my mind, as they are wonderful in there own right and deserve a read. The series was popular when I was still a child, enough that a movie was made about the first three books. That in itself speaks one of the problems with this film. I'm not saying that it didn't work, they did actually okay with that concept. If I remember correctly, each book was long enough for it's own individual movie, so I just don't see why they'd make one film for the first three books.
One thing to know about these books is that they are very dark. The main characters ( The Baudeliers) are orphaned in the first few pages from a raging house fire that burns their parents alive. A friend of theirs as well as their parents (who is also the family's banker in charge of their grand wealth) Mr. Poe, must now relocate them to a member of their family. The books are for children, but do give a little warning on the back that the books are depressing, which I'm sure the author knows no kid will care about and read anyway. This is one of my biggest highlights for the series, it takes it's audience very seriously, knowing any child who read it can understand it and take it seriously. Sure, it has it's funny moments, it's altogether a black comedy, but it still treated it's audience with repect, something a few modern children's films could stand to learn.

As for the film, this is true as well as not. It contains a lot of dark elements, but a lot more lighthearted and silly moments than necessary. It's like the the writer's were waving these scenes out at us saying "Ohhhh, look at the funny scenes, don't cry, don't cry." It's very unimpressive, but not unexpected as Nickelodeon did make this movie (along with Paramount).

The villain of this movie and the series is Count Olaf. In the books, Olaf is a cold-blooded killer motivated only by his own greed. But this isn't Scrooge McDuck greed, this is played dead-serious, villainous greed. He murders someone in every book excluding the first, and that's debatable because it's suggested in the books (and outright true in the movie) he started the fire that killed the main characters parents. He wants their fortune, and kills people left and right for it. However, in the movie he is played by Jim Carrey, who adds his normal over the top shtick, Sometimes it's not bad, even funny. Sometimes it's boring, even painful. If Olaf had been a purely comedic villain in the books this would have felt better, but he's not, he's one of the darkest villains I've read in children's books.
I do love the child actors who played the Baudelaire's. Their acting was very convincing, almost as good as the ones in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and child actors rarely get even close to that level. Granted, they were a little older, possibly. The actors in Wonka were all around 13, and I think that kid who played Klaus may have been around that age but Violet must have been 19 or so and Sunny was around 5 or so, which is good since she only had baby talk anyway.

Another great thing about the movie is the visuals. It won an Oscar for best make-up, and as many problems as I see in this movie I do completely agree the movie deserved the Oscar. The make-up is wonderful, as are the rest of the visuals. The make-up and costumes truly captured the dark and gothic world the books gave us.

But really, I can't say I recommend the movie. My rating is a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It did try, and there are aspects I do like about the film, but it just didn' work for me. It may sound sterotypical, but the books were better.