Barnes & Noble

It is Daniel Handler’s nom de plume, Lemony Snicket, above the title, but this mostly fortunate adaptation of three Snicket books (The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window) leans weightily on Jim Carrey’s cinematic shoulders. Carrey is perfect as the despicable actor Count Olaf, hamming it up in a series of guises that figure in his continuing schemes to deprive the Baudelaire orphans of their parents’ fortune. The film's cautionary prologue ingeniously captures the subversive spirit of Snicket's macabre misadventures; it's a wonderful piece of stop-motion animation, right out of Rankin-Bass, in which "The Littlest Elf" prances about in celebration of springtime. Alas, narrator Snicket (Jude Law) informs us, this is not the cheerful film we are going to see. The Baudelaires' story is much more alarming. Described as "clever and reasonably attractive," Violet (Emily Browning), Klaus (Liam Aiken), and infant Sunny (Kara and Shelby Hoffman) survive every deadly predicament Count Olaf can concoct. The cast also includes a boisterous Billy Connolly and a delightful Meryl Streep as ill-fated guardians who are not so lucky in their encounters with Olaf. Director Brad Silberling avoids the slavish-devotion-to-the-text formula that diminished the first two Harry Potter films, although the decision to subtitle Sunny's gurgles and coos with contemporary slang ("Bite me") smacks of pandering. Parents may appreciate that some of the more "extremely unpleasant" incidents in the books (notably a climactic marriage) have been toned down, but the PG-13 rating is accurate. The Academy Award winner for Carrey’s makeup, the film was also justly nominated for its dazzling production design, and the animated end credits are among the best in recent years, too. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

The best-selling series of subversive children's books from author Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) come to the screen in this black comedy for the whole family (and how often do you get to see one of those?). The Baudelaire siblings -- gadget freak Violet (Emily Browning), bookworm Klaus (Liam Aiken), and baby Sunny (Kara Hoffman and Shelby Hoffman) -- were living a fairy-tale existence with their parents until they died in a fire that destroyed the family home. With few close relatives and a large fortune the children won't inherit until they reach adulthood, the Baudelaire children are left in the care of the peculiar Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), an out-of-work actor who would love nothing more than to get his hands on the kids' money. It doesn't take long for the children to figure out that Count Olaf is up to no good, and they try to steer clear of his various murderous schemes with the help of wildly paranoid Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep) and snake-fancying Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly). Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events also features Catherine O'Hara, Timothy Spall, Cedric the Entertainer, and Luis Guzman; Jude Law narrates in the guise of author Snicket. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 097363407645
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Theatre Wide-Screen (1.85.1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
• Language: English, Français, Español
• Subtitles: English
• Time: 1:47:00
• Sales Rank: 1,408

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