I've never read any of the Lemony Snicket series of books, but the basic plot appealed to me far more than the Harry Potter series, if only because it seemed more fresh than the recycled Arthurian-mythos-as-children's tale. My wife and I dragged our 10-year-old nephew to see it with us as our "beard" so people wouldn't wonder if we were some kind of freaks. Not that this stopped us from seeing the Power Puff Girls movie, but I digress.
The movie begins with an animated short titled "The Littlest Elf." I thought for a moment I was back watching the beginning of the Incredibles with that awful "Bound, bound, bound and rebound" Jackelope idiot. Fortunately, the movie's narrator, Lemony Snicket (Jude Law), immediately sets things straight. This is not a movie about a happy little elf. It is a movie about dreadful things happening to good people. He encourages us to leave the "theater, living room, or airplane" if we do not want to witness such things.
I haven't seen a movie actually tell me to leave in a long time. The reverse psychology works, of course-we did not come to see the Baudelaire children ride off into the sunset. We came to watch them be challenged and rise above those challenges.
To whit, a fire has recently orphaned three wealthy Baudelaire children: 14-year-old Violet (Emily Browning), 12-year-old (?) Klaus (Liam Aiken), and their baby sister Sunny (played by Kara or Shelby Hoffman, twins). Each child has a special power that they use to survive.
The movie is something of a cross between League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Adams Family, and the A-Team. For Violet, her "super power" is the ability to invent things on the fly. For Klaus, it's his photographic memory and vast knowledge from reading thousands of books. And Sunny? Well, Sunny can bite through practically anything. A Mini-Jaws, if you will.
The Hoffman twins play Sunny with a...well, sunny disposition. Sunny never seems to get too upset by her situation, as if she knows the joke's on the adults. Sunny doesn't quite speak, but does make a lot of cooing sounds that are essentially gibberish. Fortunately for the viewers, we are treated to subtitles of what she's really saying-this clever device keeps the adults amused and often provides levity about what are sometimes decidedly grim situations.
Aiken is suitably dour and introverted. Klaus is the voice of reason, the person who starts screaming "this is insane!" when everyone else seems to be going along with the madness. He's primarily there as a foil for Violet, and in that respect, he does a workman-like job.
Browning is the true star of the show. With her full-lipped pout and wide eyes, she's a teen version of Angelina Jolie. Violet witnesses some horrible things and finds herself in awful situations, and it's a credit to Browning that she reacts in a believable fashion without whining or preaching. She rapidly becomes the adult of the family, and it's easy to forget that she's only 14.
The children are adopted by their new guardian, Count Olaf (Jim Carey). In general, I'm leery of Jim Carey in franchise movies. I loved him in Mask, hated him as the Riddler in the Batman series, and absolutely loathed him as the Grinch. What surprised me is just how perfectly matched Carey is for the part of Olaf. Olaf is an actor, you see, and when his overt attempts to snatch the children's inheritance fail, he switches to more insidious roles by creating different personalities. Olaf, backed by his acting troupe of misfits, oozes his way into each new guardian's life and ultimately offs them so he can bring the three orphans back into his clutches.
All the annoying Carey-traits are perfectly pitched here, as Olaf lies, sneers, chatters, and calls Sunny a little monkey. He's so eccentric he can't help himself, except when he is in disguise. When he's undercover, Olaf disappears and new characters emerge-characters the children can immediately identify as being frauds. The problem is that the adults are all oblivious to Olaf's scheming, which makes the plight of the children that much more desperate.
Olaf could easily become a harmless caricature, but his deeds speak for themselves. He abandons the children on railroad tracks. He gives them impossible demands. And at one point, he SLAPS Klaus. Once that happened, I started paying attention. Olaf is cartoony, yes, but he is definitely not harmless.
The other guardians are played by Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine and Billy Connolly as Uncle Monte. Josephine is a neurotic mess, terrified of every appliance in her house, which ultimately turns out to be just as deadly as she warned (shades of Final Destination). Monte is a herpetologist who has a fondness for all manner of reptiles and amphibians, including three-eyed toads and giant pythons.
The director (Brad Silberling) does an excellent job in marinating a child's perspective. Characters loom above us, lean into the camera, and at other times are distantly off screen, talking but not saying anything of importance. This is precisely how I remember adults as a child...big, scary, and sometimes not particularly helpful.
The movie's score is perfect and the visuals all evoke a dreamy, Tim Burton-esque quality, without the obvious trademarks that make it so Tim Burton-esque. This is a relief, because Burton's creepy/funny work has started to become a self-parody in its repetitiveness (Big Fish being a big exception).
My nephew liked the movie a lot. Although it condensed three of the books, he said the movie removed a lot of parts that weren't very exciting. The ending is suitably climactic and uplifting, hinting at a long series that will hopefully live long enough to see the final end of Count Olaf.
This movie is not for everybody. But then, if you're a little quirky and have a tendency to think the worst of people, it may be just the palliative for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment