Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

Cast: Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Emily Browning, Kara Hoffman, Liam Aiken

Studio: Paramount

Rating: 6/10

CORPORATE LINE: After Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire’s parents perish in a terrible fire, they are placed in the care of Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), an actor, evil genius, and master of disguise. At every turn, Count Olaf hatches another outrageous plot to steal the orphans’ vast fortune, and he’s not going to let anybody stand in his way — not Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly), not Aunt Josephine (Meryl Streep), and certainly not the children themselves! The resulting series of unfortunate events is likely to leave viewers of all ages in utter hysterics.

THE GOOD: The children ultimately steal the show and it’s a good thing they are the main characters otherwise a movie made up entirely of Jim Carrey would have made this completely unwatchable. The scenery, though plenty dark and gloomy, doesn’t reach the achievement of Harry Potter yet it mixes the seeming make believe and the real world that is quite absorbing. Lemony Snicket is very imaginative and occasionally funny as Sunny the toddler steals the show, subtitles and all.

THE BAD: Jim Carrey can play a lunatic with the best of them—but is that really what you pay to see? Remember how Carrey’s Grinch actually did steal Christmas—it was his overdoing it that ruined the film version. Everything about Carrey’s performances comes off as vanity. I’m not sure if Carrey is overacting or just trying too hard to earn his salary.

DVD FEATURES: Director Brad Siberling and author Daniel Handler offer a fantastic commentary. Handler poses as the real author Lemony Snicket. This is honestly one of the most creative commentaries you will hear.

Also included are the nice featurettes: “Bad Beginnings, “Orphaned Scenes” which are eleven Deleted Scenes and five Outtakes. The second disc offers even more extras such as “A Terrible Tragedy”, featurettes on sound design, special effects and photo galleries.

FRANKLY: When a baby is funnier than the marquee name the film is in trouble. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events is not even in the same league as Harry Potter—and it’s not all because of Jim Carrey. Carrey does screw it up royally however it’s not as majestic or absorbing as Harry Potter which is light years ahead of Lemony Snicket.

+ Charlie Craine