A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book to Movie Review

While movies almost never live up to the book, I thought that A Series of Unfortunate Events did a very good job. Yes, things were changed, especially the ending. But trying to make a conclusion to a movie that only covers part of a series needs to do that sometimes. The writers and producers took a lot of liberty with that ending, but it was a good one, and it fit the end of a movie that was not going to have any sequels.

            One of the most true parts of the book-to-movie adaptation was the role of te narrator. Played eby Jude Law in the film, the narrator comments throughout the movie, pausing and giving commentary just like Lemony Snicket does in the books. He even pulls direct lines from the book like “stop reading/watching now” and telling people they should just change the channel and find something else. The narration was one of the best parts of the film, mainly because it was so true to the book.

            Lets talk about casting. I thought the casting was just this side of perfect. I am not usually the biggest Jim Carrey fan, but he was the perfect Count Olaf, mainly because he has the ability and facial expressions to pull off so many different characters. I love that Meryl Streep played Aunt Josephine, and I thought that Liam Aiken and Emily Browning played the roles of Klaus and Violet beautifully. They had the mannerisms of children who had lost everything, but were trying to keep it together more for each other than themselves.

            Now for the story itself, the movie was very true to both the Reptile Room and Wide Window. They got the character of both guardians down perfectly, and the storyline of both were followed down to the letter. The biggest difference between the books and movie was the first book, when Count Olaf was their guardian.

            The Baudelaire’s get taken from Count Olaf the first time in the film because he tries to get a train to run over them while locked in a car. Because of that, the children are taken away. After Aunt Josephine’s death, Mr. Poe finds Count Olaf with the children on the lake and believes that Olaf has saved them, rather than kill Aunt Josephine.

            The fake marriage takes place then, after the deaths of Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine. Here again the movie took liberties, trying (in my opinion) to make a good conclusion for a single film. In the book, Violet gets out of the marriage by signing with her left hand, but in the film Count Olaf catches her doing that and makes her change hands. Klaus and Sunny are stuck in the tower, where Klaus finds a machine that magnifies light and can cause fires to start at far away locations. This hints to the fact that Count Olaf burned the Baudelaire family home, and has done so to many other homes as well. Using that device, Klaus aims it at the marriage document and burns it to shreds.

            The movie ends with hope that the Baudelaire children have hope, and that together they can get through anything. While in the books they are always steadfastly loyal and caring for one another, there is little hope for their future. Overall, it is a great movie, and one that I enjoy watching all the time, but one just needs to be prepared for a different ending.