Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Well, this was interesting. Cute, and I see why it’s a popular series for the tween/young teen group. I also see a lot of the supposed similarity to the Harry Potter stories in that they always seem to wiggle out of situations where the odds are stacked against them, there is an evil force relentlessly planning against them, and their young age prevents any potentially helpful adult from assisting them.

Jim Carey gives his usual “look at me, I’m a funny man” performance. I haven’t read the books, so I can’t say whether or not it was intended. I can say that even with his predictable acting, the movie was very entertaining.

I’m quite sure the movie does no justice to the books. Our story revolves around the three children: Violet Beaudelaire who is a very inventive young lady, and whose trademark action denoting any impending inventiveness is tying back her hair with a piece of black ribbon. Klaus, her younger brother, who helps them out of each “unfortunate” encounter by recalling information gleaned from the endless volumes of books he’s read from the family library. And Sunny, the ingenious little toddler who’s lack of language development does not keep her from having an opinion about every possible thing they come across (and whose rather bizarre chewing habits help them all out of more than one stick situation).

The story starts with the Beaudelaire children explaining their happy life, and quickly cuts in with the unfortunate news that their parents were killed in a tragic house fire that consumed their mansion home.

They are to be placed with the nearest next of kin, with their family fortune being managed by a local banker until they are of age. The nearest next of kin happened to be none other than the diabolical Count Olaf (Carey).

After a rather fortunate separation from Olaf, the children are shuffled from relative to relative (Olaf having disposed of each of these relatives in turn) until they are finally able to show the adults around them what Olaf has been up to – by catching him red handed.

So of course, we go through the “bad uncle tries to steal rich kids’ inheritance” plot, which is, in itself, bland. What makes this story fun are the rich characters, excellent casting, and beautiful costuming and sets (which are very Tim Burtonesque – an instant happy place for me!). Oh, and the fact that there is another storyline buried within this plot, as well J

It’s worth the 4 bucks to rent. And if you have kids who can get into this, I’d definitely recommend it (although it’s likely they’ve already seen it).