Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Review

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(More customer reviews)It's somewhat difficult to review this film. Any adaptation of a book sets certain expectations for those who are seeing the movie - and the most common expectation is that the movie is going to parallel, as accurately as it can, the books.
Does this do that? Yes and no.
The central plot elements of the books are there: the greedy Count Olaf who wants to steal their fortune; the bumbling Mr. Poe who can't seem to understand anything; Uncle Monty, who makes them feel at home for the first time since losing their parents; and their Aunt Josephine, who is afraid of so many things - radiators, ovens, falling refrigerators, and, of course, realtors.
However, the movie moves rather quickly to the second book, skirting swiftly around the first book and inserting a segue that didn't happen in any book to cause the movement. I was puzzled by this. There were other liberties taken, but as I ruminate over them, they seem rather insignificant. The resolution of Uncle Monty's "scene" was nearly identical to the one in the book, as was the resolution to the "scene" featuring Aunt Josephine. As I said, the central plot elements remained the same.
In an interesting and altogether understandable move (as it was the most intriguing filmable climax), the ending of the first book was made the ending of the movie.
All of the sets were well created: Olaf's, Monty's, Josephine's home - and even the ruined Baudelaire mansion. They were believable and well done.
Some of the actors seemed out of place, particularly the ones playing Mr. Poe and Klaus. I don't understand why they were so far removed from their physical descriptions in the book. Surely finding someone taller to play Mr. Poe couldn't have been that difficult (he wasn't, by the way, coughing and sniffing constantly), and at the very least they could have put glasses on Klaus.
Jim Carrey was somewhat over-the-top as Count Olaf and Captain Sham, but he was understated and perfect as Stefano. Count Olaf is, as any readers of the book know (and I've read and reviewed all of them) a rather over-the-top character, so I found his portrayal of Olaf to be spot-on and didn't have a problem with it as some "real" reviewers have.
The person I saw the film with had never read the books, and when we were leaving, I asked his opinion. He said that he loved it, and in fact enjoyed it more than the Harry Potter movies. Personally, I disagree - and this is my review.
The movie also gave away a few secrets, and I think that may have been because the filmmakers aren't certain whether or not they are going to make any more films. I'm not aware of any filming underway for a second set of "Unfortunate Events", so the kids portraying Violet, Klaus and Sunny will, and likely have, already outgrown their characters. Perhaps the filmmakers gave these secrets away believing that the story they were telling needed more resolution than it had. In any event, if they do make more films, it will be interesting to see how they handle the divulging of these secrets.
If I had never read the books, I think I would have "loved" the movie too. However, I've read all of them, and while the filmmakers did a very good job recreating the spirit of Snickett's work, they didn't do an excellent one. Hence the four star review. (Four stars means very good - five stars means excellent, or superlative. At least in my book.)


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Product DescriptionLemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is the only action adventure game for males 8-12 based on the movie and book series in which you explore, invent and solve mysteries as each of the three Baudelaire orphans to defeat their evil uncle, Count Olaf. Product DescriptionIn Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, you'll follow the Baudelaire orphans as their luck goes from bad to incredibly worse. This treacherous tale lets you become Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire. Combine the unique talents of all three orphans to stay one step ahead of their distant uncle, the evil Count Olaf, before he steals their family fortune. Based on the hit series of children's novels.

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