Posted: 12/19/2004

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

(2004)

by Hank Yuloff

In listening to an NPR interview with author Daniel Handler, I learned that I was in for quite a ride when seeing the latest Jim Carrery project, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Number one, I wish we got paid (at all) by FilmMonthly.com and second, I wish we got paid by the word, because there could be a lot to say about LSASOE and if I just repeated the name a lot, it could mean some serious coin. I also wished I had been a child growing up with this series of books (12) because I am sure they must be masterful to experience at an age when your imagination will take flight with everything you read.

But can the books translate (that means does the book make as good a movie as it does a book) to film in such a way as to capture the mind? I am not sure. It took condensing three of them to make one movie so there might be too much detail in each to make the translation possible but they do make for an interesting acting exercise for Jim Carrey.

The story revolves around the recently orphaned Baudelaire children and their search for a new home where their lives will not be in danger. The trouble is, and as the title suggests, the movie revolves around a series of unfortunate events that claims the life of their parents and throws them into the arms of their closest (geographically speaking, evidently) relative the Evil Count Olaf (Carrey) who would like nothing more than for them to suffer the same early demise as their parents so he can claim the Baudelaire fortune.

Luckily the children clue into this rather early so we don’t spend our entire afternoon hoping they will clue in to the danger and can focus rather, on the way they get out of the life-threatening situations Olaf places them in.

With Snicket (Jude Law) himself as our narrator, we are introduced to the story that he, Snicket, wrote when researching the death of the children’s parents. He warns us at the very beginning that we should leave if we want to see a happy film with a wonderful ending. And we all stayed (except for that one couple who left 10 minutes in) for the death and destruction. Bear in mind, this film is rated PG, but that does NOT mean it is without dark elements and could be the cause of a sleepless night with the younger viewers.

Actually, I think that couple that left saw the best part of the movie because that beginning and the ending credits (the wife wanted me to be sure to add that) are the most original and interesting part of a movie that becomes very “What Next” and “When will it end” in feeling. I liked it, but I would rather have seen the video so I could enjoy the wonderful set design that has lots of interesting tidbits (including the AFLAC duck and some very cool automobile interiors) to enjoy.

The acting is, for the most part, very good. Carrey is…. “as expected” is perhaps the best way I can describe him. This is the Mask, Grinch, Batman, Ace Ventura, Cable Guy Carrey. Facial distortions, big eyes, and a wonderfully elastic body to tell us all he is feeling. Meryl Streep is at once frustrating and ingratiating as the children’s Aunt Josephine and when she meets her end, we feel neither happiness nor grief at her demise, which I guess is as we are supposed to feel. The problem is that the children feel none of those emotions either, especially when they lose their parents. I am not sure whether it is that we were covering a long period of time in the book/movie, or whether they are too typically teenage cool for the room, but their was no extended feeling of grief for the parents which seemed too odd. Emily Browing (Ned Kelly) is wonderful as the brilliant inventing eldest child Violet Baudelaire. Her brother Klaus is played by Liam Aiken, who I didn’t see anything more from than I did in the miserable Good Boy! and the 2-year old Baudelaire child Sunny is played by twins Shelby and Kara Hoffman, who are given the best lines in the movie via well-placed subtitles over her early attempts at vocalizations. The best and most likable performance as Uncle Monty was turned in by Billy Connolly (The Last Samurai). It’s a pity we did not spend more time in that book.

There are parts of the book which do translate very well. One of them is that author Handler adds many large words for his reading audience and explains their definitions so that they are taken on a magical tour and learn something as they go. I was watching for this and noticed that in the 10 or so times the device was used, it blended very well with the story. Well, as this review is longer than most of my reviews by a bit, I will expect FM.com to pay me commensurate (that is a large word that in this case means AT ALL) to my abilities.

Hank Yuloff is one of our many talented writers in Los Angeles, and as such should not hold his breath. [Ed. Note: Amen!]

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