LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Plot Summary

The parents of Violet (Emily Browning), Klaus (Liam Aiken) and Sunny (Shelby & Kara Hoffman) are killed in a terrible fire when their house is burnt down. A very distant, and strange, relative, Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) is granted custody of the orphaned children. Unable to hide his dislike for the children Count Olaf plots to kill them so that he can get his hands on the children's vast inheritance. The children are rescued and taken in by another distant, and strange, relative but Count Olaf doesn't give up that easily and is determined to complete his dastardly plan...

Review

The movie's narrator, Lemony Snicket (Jude Law) starts by warning the audience that this is not a nice happy movie about a friendly little elf and he offers the audience a chance to leave! The movie is an adaptation of a book from a popular collection. A collection that includes titles such as; The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, The Grim Grotto and The Reptile Room. You get the picture! These children's books are a little darker that happy dancing elf stories! I'm not sure that very young children will enjoy this movie. Not because they would be afraid but because they will not understand or appreciate the dark humour that runs through the story.

The story presents a greedier and ruthless side to human nature and explains that people don't always live happily ever after. Life can be grim, not everyone is kind and generous, some people like Count Olaf are mean, nasty and dangerous. Shot in gloomy grey and brown colours a macabre atmosphere is created. While funny in parts there aren't any big laughs and the humour is a little sour. It lacks any real fun or adventure and seems to plod along quite heavily for what is essentially a children's story. Maybe the movie needed one or two happy elves after all!

The sets in the movie are excellent, very dramatic with a Gothic like appearance. They help portray the great imagination in the books. The characters too are very imaginative. Most are weird and not so wonderful! The children first stay with Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) then with Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly) and finally with Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep). All of them are quite mad in their own way! It looks like the cast really enjoyed making the characters as eccentric as possible; something Jim Carrey is an expert at doing.

The Bottom Line: A little short on laughs and a bit gloomy. Needed a bit of Harry Potter magic to liven things up and add some adventure.

Previewed by Niall Quinn, Premier Movie Reviews 2004.

RELATED MOVIE REVIEWS: JIM CARREY: Bruce Almighty,  Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind,  The Grinch,  Me Myself and Irene.  MERYL STREEP: Adaptation,  The Hours,  The Manchurian Candidate.  JUDE LAW:  A.I. (Artificial Intelligence),  Cold Mountain,  Road To Perdition,  The Talented Mr. Ripley.  BILLY CONNOLLY: The Last Samurai,  Timeline.  LIAM AIKEN:  Good Boy.

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Director: Brad Siberling

Certificate: Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events was rated PG by the Irish Film Censor's Office (www.ifco.ie). Mild violence and language, no drugs or sex/nudity.

Official Movie Website: Lemony Snicket's A Series...

~ Main Cast ~

Jim Carrey

Meryl Streep

Jude Law

Billy Connolly

Liam Aiken

Emily Browning

RATING

ONLY IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO