My wife and I saw 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' tonight. She's read the books, I have not. I'm almost glad I didn't because I'm always disappointed when I've read the book a movie is based (for example, the book “Clear and Present Danger” rates as one of my favorite novels, but the movie sucked big time).
First, before the movie started, there was a preview for “War of the Worlds“ -- HOLY COW! That looks like it'll be very cool. There was also a preview of “Robots“ which looks like it'll be really good.
The story (back to the movie) was interesting and all the actors did a great job. There are a number of cameos including Dustin Hoffman which kinda surprised me. Jim Carrey did an excellent job as the freakish Count Olaf. I normally don't like Jim Carrey (I think “Liar Liar“, “The Majestic” and “The Truman Show“ are about the only ones I can tolerate).
It's definitely not a movie for young kids with some scenes (one with the“killer“ snake) made both of us jump. :-) There was talk of suicide and Count Olaf was not secretive in his desire to kill the kids. I also found the marriage scene just a bit bizarre.
Overall, I left the movie satisfied, but hoping they'll come out with a sequel. My wife said this movie covered the first 3 or 4 books in the series, so there's a lot they could cover.
Print | posted on Wednesday, January 05, 2005 6:35 PM