#56 - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

I tell you what, don't go into this movie expecting to anything that you have ever seen before. I went into it expecting a Harry Potter type of movie, and that is not what I got. For the first part of it, I was stuck in that mindset and wasn't really enjoying what I was watching. Once I caught on to what was going on in the movie, it blew me away with it's uniqueness and imagination. You see, I haven't read any of the books that this was based on, so I had no idea that it would even be possible to mix a dark comedy and a family movie. That's right. That's what I said. A dark comedy mixes with a family movie. I never even imagined that the two things could be put together, and then work so well together.

I'm not gonna bore you with a plot summary because most of you reading this have probably seen the movie. The fact that the meat of the whole movie is the kids avoiding being killed by their evil uncle Olaf is amazing to me. Most family movies have kids getting captured by the bad guys, but they usually aren't in too much danger. Besides, the bad guys in those movies have something else on their mind other than the kids and they just want to capture them so that they can't ruin their plans. Count Olaf wants to kill them!! That is his objective. Someone tell me of another family movie where the main focus of the bad guy is to kill the kids. And I'm not talking about killing the kids so that they stop interfering with their plans for something else. I am talking about their deaths being THE objective. You can't do it. Especially in a big budget Hollywood movie.

I loved the art direction of this movie. The Victorian style is already unsettling and disturbing, but when you skewer, and twist, and tweak it, you have stepped it up another level. Olaf's mansion and the house on the cliff are especially well designed. It just creates a magically dark world that sets the tone for whole movie. Well done there.

And let talk about one of my favorite subjects: child actors. Well, no problems here. All three of the kids were well cast, and good actors. Maybe the boy was a little stiff, but he's a quiet bookworm, so it's okay. The girl was an interesting balance of sadness and sweetness. And that baby. I know they used a pair of twins, but how in the hell did they get those babies to do all of that stuff. I've never seen a baby that was so much fun to watch. From the smart ass comments translated from baby gibberish to the shot of her hanging off of a table with her choppers, I enjoyed every part of that kid.

As far as the other performers go, everyone did a great job of commiting to the world that was being created. Jim Carrey playing a number of interesting characters, especially the Italian scientist. Glenn Close(Check that - Meryl Streep) playing the ultimate worry wart. Billy Connelly playing...Billy Connelly. And how about Jude Law getting paid to be in shillouette the entire time and never having to learn lines since all of his dialogue was recorded narration. Nice gig there.

Like I said before, most of you reading this have probably already seen it. But in case you haven't, DO IT!!! It's absolutely unique. Like Falling Angels, I wanted to watch it over again right away. I also wanted to watch the DVD extras which I rarely take time to do with these rentals. The fact that I watched any of them is saying something. WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!