It doesn’t quite have the nerve to follow through on its setup, but “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” plays some wonderfully dark variations on traditional children’s stories.
The big-scale film is based on a series of kids’ books about three children who, in the manner of a Victorian melodrama, are orphaned at the beginning of the saga. Foisted off on various caretakers, they are menaced by their wily relative Count Olaf, who covets the fortune their parents left them.
The books are written by one Lemony Snicket, aka Daniel Handler. Handler is one of those rare adults who actually remembers what it was like to be a child, and he acknowledges the attraction kids have for scary stories, gloom and a cynical point of view.
The film is narrated by Lemony Snicket, in the voice of Jude Law. After whisking away a nauseatingly cutesy cartoon called “The Littlest Elf,” Mr. Snicket warns the audience that they are about to witness terrible misfortune and unpleasantness. “This is an excellent time to walk out,” he suggests.
He then introduces us to the Baudelaire children: Violet (Emily Browning), one of the world’s finest 14-year-old inventors; Klaus (Liam Aiken), a poker-faced bookworm; and infant sister Sunny, who likes to bite things.
When their parents are killed in a fire, the Baudelaires are dropped at the creaking mansion of Count Olaf. This extremely bizarre personage, bald of head and cold of heart, is played by Jim Carrey, in full-out glorious Jim Carrey-ness.
The movie is actually based on the first three Lemony Snicket books, so it has an episodic form. In the first section, the children elude Count Olaf’s grasp.
In the second, they live, briefly, with Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly), a herpetologist whose home is crowded with snakes. Unfortunately, he allows a mysterious gentleman to enter his house, and perishes. The gentleman? Olaf in disguise.
Then the kids are trundled off to stay with Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep), who lives in a house perched on stilts over a cliff at Lake Lachrymose. She fears everything (“Don’t stand under the chandelier – it could impale you”), but she trusts a peg-leg old salt.
He turns out to be Count Olaf again, of course. The children always recognize him, but adults don’t listen.
The film is set in an undefinable fantasy world, part Dickens England and part 21st century. The kids are dressed like Edwardian ragamuffins, but Count Olaf references pop culture. It all looks really cool.
It’s impossible not to invoke the morbid worlds of Roald Dahl and Edward Gorey when describing this film. Death is always around the corner, and the motives of adults are either distracted or malevolent.
Mixed into the dread are a couple of sappier scenes between Violet and Klaus, which feel suspiciously like a softening attempt by Paramount and DreamWorks to avoid losing their investment.
Director Brad Silberling (“City of Angels”) and screenwriter Robert Gordon aren’t quite on board with Lemony Snicket’s sardonic attitude. You sense them pulling away – although, no doubt about it, this movie has some extremely weird things in it, things as disturbing as a Grimm fairy tale.
Jim Carrey, however, is on board. He clearly relishes Count Olaf’s cruelty, and he bends his face and body in fantastically unlikely ways. Fine performance, but you wouldn’t want him for a relative.
RIGHT: Liam Aiken as Klaus, Kara/Shelby Hoffman as Sunny and Emily Browning as Violet in “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.”
BELOW: Jim Carrey as Captain Sham and Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine.
“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” HHH
Grim, like Grimm: Based on the first three of the best-selling children’s books, this is the dreadful saga of the Baudelaire orphans, who are constantly at the mercy of wicked Count Olaf (Jim Carrey). The movie doesn’t quite follow through, but it has genuinely weird moments, and Carrey is terrific.
Rated: PG rating is for violence, subject matter.
Now showing: tk
“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” HHH
Grim, like Grimm: Based on the first three of the best-selling children’s books, this is the dreadful saga of the Baudelaire orphans, who are constantly at the mercy of wicked Count Olaf (Jim Carrey). The movie doesn’t quite follow through, but it has genuinely weird moments, and Carrey is terrific.
Rated: PG rating is for violence, subject matter.
Now showing: Edmonds, Everett 9, Galaxy, Grand, Marysville, Mountlake, Stanwood, Meridian, Metro, Oak Tree, Woodinville, Cascade.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
