Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events

As a child, I completely ignored the ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ bandwagon. A lot of my peers were reading the books as well as the watching the motion picture, but not me. To be honest, I was a more of a Spiderwick Chronicles kid but that’s besides the point. What I mean is that I finally got around to working that bit of the time line by watching the new Netflix series with the Neil Patrick Harris.

Because I enjoyed it so much, I decided to go back and view the original adaptation of the beloved book series, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, this time Jim Carrey was the star. This proved to be an awful decision as it is quite impossible for me not to make comparisons between the two different versions.

This review will focus on the 2004 film, say what you like I only have two hands and it will be the first to write about the new television program if A Series of Unfortunate Events is mentioned at least once or twice. In any case, A Series of Unfortunate Events tracks the adventures of the Baudelaires children or orphans six when their parents die unexpectedly due to a mysterious fire in a house.

Since they require a permanent house, the children are scuttled away to their nearest kin a certain Count Olaf. A certain mean Olaf, that is, as the children are left perplexed as to who this Count has been for them. It doesn’t take long for them to realize he just wants their substantial wealth. The film follows the endearing story of the Baudelaires as they become a target of twenty different relatives, all of whom are trying to get hold of their parent’s money, in the end being outwitted by Count Olaf who remains consistent.

In case you have no idea, the Netflix series is structured in such a way that every two episodes represent one book from the A Series of Unfortunate Events series. It’s great in the sense that it ensures that nothing is left out, but I have to admit the pacing was pretty slow at some points. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, (to be shortened from now on as “the film”), chooses to combine the first three books into one film lasting two hours in total.

The exact opposite problem that I encountered in the television version is caused by this: there is virtually no entertainment to speak of when plotting the events of the book in film. At the beginning of the movie the arcs of the drama are spaced quite comfortably creating an impression of a very slow movie. We see the main characters, we see the main conflict, and the main conflict is almost lost as soon as it appears.

Normally this would mean a nice way to end a story, in which case, in the film it only accounts for the first thirty minutes. The reason for that is the fact that the first thirty minutes, plus or minus, is composed of fragments from the first two books. Fortunately after I adjusted to this nonsensical sequencing of events the tempo of the story didn’t seem to drag too much.

The issue that persisted in the entire film was the badly constructed ‘cuts’ within the plot development. As I said prior it was extremely obvious when one story was over and another one started which made the whole film monotonous in a way. For me, sitting down and watching the film did not really present me with one nice plot, it presented me three rather not so well done and hurried plots.

Sure, it is a kids’ film as it is based on three books in one movie case, but I cant shake off the feeling that the story could have been changed a bit more to bring some cohesion to the monotony. What I will commend the film on was the impressive number of notable names that appeared in the film and how they performed. Just to name a few off the top of my head, well not even that, thanks to the internet we have: Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Billy Connolly, and even Dustin Hoffman.

if nondetailed Now their time on film differed greatly but they were all convincing and decent in their roles. The film is headlined by three well children ( well two actually) whom I should say do pretty good as well.

No, I haven’t read the books so I don’t know if they were able to stay within character but I will say that they were able to carry the film effortlessly. Of course the main reason to watch this film is Jim Carrey acting as Count Olaf (and many of the other characters he impersonates). Jim Carrey totally embodies the character of Olaf and makes everything look effortless and realistic, such that the character seems as though it has jumped straight out of animated movies onto the screen. It is quite impressive how he is able to dominate every scene he participates in, and as Count Olaf he does not appear to be any less entertaining.

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a work with a very original style, and the film depicts it rather well. When I first saw the television show, I was quite astounded by how impressive and in many ways, unusual the visuals were. I was even more shocked while viewing the film when I found out that many of those images were actually taken wholesale (not in a bad way, I hope) from the film. But the look that I grew attached to first was to some extent introduced by the movie, and in that regard, I must applaud it.

The vision of this world has certain similarities to that of Time Burton’s but on the other hand, it is very original. The style is almost gothic but yet has a very eccentric feel to it at the same time. Quite frankly, it’s difficult to put into words, but it’s a sight you’ll likely recognize when you see it. This look immerses you so quickly that it is almost shocking. The moment the film begins, you have a good idea of what to expect and this is something I enjoy. I also thought practical sets worked well for most of the places.

It was not easy, or so filmmakers in 2004 would think, to hear the remark “just add it in later,” but at least we had one someone eager to high hope in hearing that there is still a chance, albeit small, for the production to invest the additional resources in creating fantastic sets which enhance the film’s overall experience. Surely, the movie has its fair share of CGI and wow, does it look bad, really bad!

Though the film came out in 2004 and considering the time frame, the film actually does not seem to stand up to those expectations at all. And perhaps the most guilty is little sunshine The youngest Baudelaire In this case, Sunny is a baby, and as a baby, she is unable to perform any sort of daredevil acts. So how do we get around that? Surely, the answer is in the form of a CGI baby, right?

The digital baby wasn’t that bad, and then you slipped into the CGI of a baby where in the film it appears none of the baby environment you have seen. It seriously appeared as though someone took one of the animated children from The Polar Express and placed them into their movie. It was not adequate. One other thing that irritated me a bit, which I think in many films, when the film initially begins we meet two English actors.

You then go on to say that you understand this particular film will have its share of accented characters which is fine don’t get me wrong. But then literally a one second on the clock another accent does not exist in the film. I find it strange that there would be two accented characters at the beginning of the film and then there would not be any throughout. It felt more like a bait and switch. I don’t know but perhaps it is weird which I do in this case which is so much more.

All in all this is It is dewberry’s movie and I should have bought it a long time back only swung the anticipation once expanded thrice swelled terrific repetitive thrice. It develops some story structure issues but other than that I would say that it is a fun children oriented film which adults will have fun with as well surprisingly Jim Carrey alone warrants the price of the ticket.

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