Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events Reviewed

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is just what it says, a series of unfortunate events, but not a solid cohesive story. The episodic nature of the books weakens a rather pleasant tale, or at least the beginning of the tale.

The Baudelaire Orphans: Emily Browning as Violet, Liam Aiken as Klaus, and Kara and Shelby Hoffman as Sunny

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Jim Carrey as Count Olaf

Emily Browning and Liam Aiken are delightful. They truly look and act like brother and sister. The characters in the books are very two-dimensional, but the two give Violet and Klaus feeling and emotion.The actor most heard, but not seen is Jude Law who plays the narrator, and ever mysterious, only seen in shadow, Lemony Snicket. He chronicles the dark tale of the Baudelaire children and speaks some of the films funniest lines.

Billy Connolly as Uncle Monty

Besides the children and Carey, a few other stars fill out the cast. Billy Connolly provides the one bit of warmth in the orphan’s lives as their loving Uncle Monty. Meryl Streep looks to be having great fun in the goofy role of Aunt Josephine. She really can play anyone. Timothy Spall plays Mr. Poe, the caretaker of the children’s assets who time and time again is oblivious to Olaf’s disguises and treachery. There are also a few other un-credited cameos that you’ll have to find for yourselves.

Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine

Some of the most charming aspects of the books have been lost. Sunny, the youngest, speaks in her own baby language which in the book is translated by the narrator. In the film, subtitles appear to tell the true meaning of Sunny’s babbling. Although they are funny especially when she tells Olaf to “bite me,” and when she describes Aunt Josephine as “crazy,” but they are ultimately distractions from the story. I was very pleased to see the narrator’s act of defining words has been curtailed to a few words though.The storyline has been reworked and flipped in the attempt to create a cohesive story, but the episodic nature of the books keeps the story from hitting a long narrative drive even though it comes close with Aunt Josephine’s story-line. The books never really offer a relief to the suffering of the Baudelaire orphans. The writers try to end the film on a happy ending, but it just doesn’t work with the rest of the film. Even though it tries to set up sequels, it comes off a little strange. The actions taken by the children and through the acting of Browning and Aiken the message of family love and persevering is conveyed, and the happy ending is not needed.The look of the film is dark and fantastic and retains some of the book’s quirkiness. The film opens with a disney-esque cartoon entitled “The Littlest Elf.” It is interrupted by the narrator saying this is not the film you will be watching, and it is an excellent time to run out of the theater, living room, or airplane that you are watching this film from.Overall, Lemony Snicket is quite a pleasurable experience. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a great series.