Monday, December 20, 2004

Movie Review: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

I firmly believe I would have enjoyed reading the books a lot more.

I saw the preview for this movie in the theatres, and I thought it looked interesting...but my interest was not peaked then.

It peaked when my friend compared the soundtracks of Lemony to that of the Harry Potter films. The soundtrack of Lemony is said to have captured the essence of the story much better than that of Harry Potter. After seeing the film, I have to say that I agree. The music in Lemony is much more evocative of the setting and it enhances a lot of the emotional scenes.

The story of 3 children being orphaned, and having to fend for their own lives against a greedy "guardian" is a very gripping concept. However, I didn't feel that the sadness, the desperation and the anguish was conveyed to the audience all that well. The injustices in the story didn't make me feel angry like it should have, which is a major miss on the director's part. The humour was very nice: subtle and understated. Some of it was a bit childish, but that's expected of a children's movie.

The characterization has to be a hit because not only did the actors do a superb job, but praise must be given to the author for creating characters who have strong skills. This is what prepares a character to face the challenges they faced and to be able to survive on those skills. Each character can play his/her part and help the team. That is so important in this story, as we see very clearly at the very end, when Violet reads the letter from their dead parents.

The film did have it's brilliant moments, such as the suspense of the train track scene, the leech scene and the wedding scene. If there is one thing that makes this film, it's the buildup to the climax. The letter from the parents at the very end put a very touching moment on the story, even if it didn't happen in the books.

Overall, I think thsi movie would be good for children to see because it is very entertainting. However, I would rather read the books.

I give Lemony 3/5 stars.

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