A Nutshell Review: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
The Littlest Elf opens this movie, before being shut off Lemony Snicket's narration (voiceover Jude Law, hey, he's everywhere in 2004!), reminding everyone that this is a movie with a sad beginning and end, and with a series of unfortunate events.
We are introduced to the Baudelaire children - Violet, who has a knack of invention using things readily available (and whose pouty lips are comparable to that of Angelina Jolie's), Klaus, who reads loads of books, and remembers everything, and the toddler Sunny, who...err... just bites.
The first unfortunate event is the burning of their house / parents inside (not shown). Suddenly they are left orphans, and are bounced from guardian to guardian, comprising of distant and weird relatives, like one who keeps strange reptiles, and another who has a fear of practically everything, but with a nuance for proper grammar.
Jim Carrey is Count Olaf, their first guardian, who craves nothing but the childrens' inheritance, and schemes to get custody / kill / anything that does the trick to get the children and/or the money. Here, Carrey is on familiar playground, with multiple disguises giving him the opportunity to flex his facial muscles.
But the toddler Sunny actually steals the show from Carrey, with her inability to speak, except gagas and googoos, hilarious subtitling thrown in as interpretation, and oh-so-cute actions. Awww.....
The storyline and narrative feel is somewhat similar in style to the Harry Potter movies - most times dark, gothic, sinister, as the kids try and solve who did and why their parents got killed, yet at the same time showcasing and utilizing their unique abilities to get them out of sticky situations. The CGI works perfectly here, and brings to life the excitement of many set action pieces.
This film has peaked my interest in the books - let's hope their not written in too childish a manner for me!
By the way, I do not know why, but all the audience left when the end credits are shown - they are drawn beautifully with caricatures and silhouettes, and the haunting score just captivates. Stay and appreciate, yeah?
