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Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
12/17/04 - PG - 108m
Jim Carrey - Count Olaf
Emily Browning - Violet Baudelaire
Liam Aiken - Klaus Baudelaire
Kara & Shelby Hoffman - Sunny Baudelaire
Director: Brad Silberling
Screenplay by: Robert Gordon
Books by: Daniel Handler
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Official
Website
JEF
I can’t comprehend how this movie got made, or more importantly how it is getting good reviews from other critics.
Storyline: SPOILERS - The movie opens with the horrible tale of three children who are recently orphaned due to a fire that has burned their house down, and killed their parents. The “courts” then take the children to their nearest relative Count Olaf (Jim Carrey). The Count is only interested in the inheritance money, so he attempts to kill the children. He fails his first attempt; the courts take the children away and bring the children to other relatives. Then the count successfully kills the other relatives. And finally, the Count attempts to marry his 14-year-old stepdaughter (which is when we walked out).
So just to quickly recap, lets make a children’s movie about a serial killer with subtle hints of pedophilia. What!?
The movie is based upon the first three books of the same name. Granted I have not read the books, and could possibly be missing the point, but this movie was not what I expected. I had seen an interview with Jim Carrey on “Live with Regis and Kathy” in which Regis suggests that some are saying the movie might be too dark or scary for children. Jim Carrey suggests that it is not, and Jim himself, brought up the topic of Pedophilia and quickly joked about it, and dismisses it. Ok, I thought… People were suggesting that the last Harry Potter film was too scary for children I can understand that, due to monsters, and all. That’s what I thought the comment was referring to with this movie. Yet when I saw the movie I was shocked about the subject matter.
Granted the movie does have a PG rating (as this seems to be the latest trend in children’s movies – which I can’t understand either). But still this just strikes me as wrong.
I will say two good things about the movie… I thought the acting by Emily Browning (Violet Baudelaire) was very well done. I also thought visually the film was creative. It had a Tim Burton gothic feel to the sets, which I liked. But those two items are not enough for me to encourage anyone to see this film.
What about Jim Carrey you ask? Yes, he was his usual goofy self in this movie. He portrayed several various characters, all with the over-the-top caricatures that Carrey is known for. I wish Carrey would ditch this part of his acting skills. He’s a talented actor, and just because you can make a silly face I think demeans his acting talent.
Ok, I hope this review can save a few people from the mistake of taking their young children to see this movie. I know, some are saying this is a “dark comedy” but still, you would think there is a line somewhere, especially with a movie geared towards children. Perhaps children can’t judge what a “dark comedy” means? Just because Jim Carrey is doing his silly faces, and funny accents, does that excuse the subject matter? Not in my book.
Jef
