Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – review

Review:

I love this movie. It’s quirky, creepy and sweet. The look, the feel, the tone – all are perfectly true to the books.

It seems lately everyone has been talking about Emily Browning, as she’s one of the actresses in the running to play Lisbeth Salander (in the US adaptation of Steig Larsson’s books), the most sought after role in Hollywood right now. I keep thinking, why is everyone surprised to hear about this actress’ talent? I could have told you that years ago, after watching Lemony Snickets. Emily Browning, as the older sister, and Liam Aiken, who plays her brother, are perfect. Both have wonderfully expressive eyes. The sets and the settings are fantastic, but the actors make this movie. Jim Carrey delivers his most toned down performance of the decade, and Meryl Streep gets to play a loony. How can you not love this film?

I never understood why this movie was so criminally underrated. Maybe it was a little too creepy for the youngest set, but anyone who read the books or even picked one up in a bookstore should have known going in that this is an old school fairy tale type story and it’s not afraid to be a little twisted, just like a true Grimm or Christain-Anderson fairy tale.

So seriously, go pick up the DVD.  I think this might be my favorite book to screen adaptation of the last decade.