Inkheart (2008)

hyped garbage

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Inkheart is an adaptation of a book released at a time when fantasy films aimed at families have been doing great box office. However the magic of great storytelling cannot be passed on to all adaptations and certainly not Inkheart which has an appalling screenplay.Brendan Fraser plays Mo Folchart, a silver tongue who has the ability of bringing book characters to life just by reading aloud. The catch being that someone or something from this world goes back in.This shift from the world of books to the real world creates havoc as there is a risk you might lose someone close. Andy Serkis plays Capricorn who along his henchmen uses these special readers for his own meansPaul Bettany plays Dustfinger a character from the book Inkheart and wants to be read back into the book.There is plenty of European location filming and some notable actors. The downside is that the film is confusing, uninteresting, heavy on clichés and lacks charm. The poor screenplay is a let down.

There are those who can bring characters into life by reading out loud. They are called Silvertongue and Mo (Brendan Fraser) is one of them. He reads a book to his young daughter. Now 12 years later, Meggie (Eliza Bennett) is grown up and Mo is searching for a particular book. Dustfinger (Paul Bettany) catches up to him but they escape to her great-aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren) in Italy. Meanwhile Dustfinger has called in the evil Capricorn (Andy Serkis) to help. On that fateful night years ago, Mo had read Inkheart and Dustfinger, Capricorn, and Basta came out while his wife Resa (Sienna Guillory) got read in.The story is convoluted and needs a good long explanation to set things up properly. I think this idea is quite interesting but it might be even more compelling if the characters are from a classic. Imagine if he read Peter Pan and they're battling Hook. Instead nobody knows these fictional characters. The premise is promising but a few things need to be worked out. Why is he looking for the book since he obviously had the book? Why doesn't he just read out his wife before? The power feels random. If the character doesn't know how it works, it's hard for the audience to work it out. I feel that it makes more sense if we see what he did to get his wife back all those years ago.There is also a clash of tones. Andy Serkis is quite scary and Paul Bettany is trying to be serious. They seem fitting to be in a darker fare, but the tone is more whimsical. Brendan Fraser is part of that whimsy along with Jim Broadbent who plays the really stupid author of Inkheart. His stupidity is not charming nor funny. Overall this is a promising premise. I'm not sure if the problem is trying to adapt it to the big screen or the actual novel itself. If the girl did what she did to save the day, why couldn't the father have done the same thing years ago?

I read the summary of this movie and I thought that it's going to be good. I loved the idea of someone bringing books to life. I would be totally in for that. So back to the movie. I liked the acting and the casting. There weren't Oscar worthing acting but they were good for the movie. As for the story, I haven't read the books so I don't know how the story actually goes, but I would have loved to see an instalment or two to this movie. It was a little bit rushed when it is the kind-of-series material. But in general, it is definitely a movie for a Saturday afternoon with the family. It will leave you with a smile on your face.

'Inkheart' initially gave me the impression of being just another fantasy film. However, once the premise is presented, it becomes interesting. The concept is intriguing but the plot is repetitive. Although it's not done to the point of ruining the movie, had the pacing been well maintained, this would have had potential of being a wonderful film experience. Much of the script and its execution is quite generic. The story is also lacking in depth due to convenient plot-conclusions and there are plot holes. The ending is rushed. Many of the characters and plot turns are poorly developed. For example, I would have liked to know what had actually happened to Resa and how she had ended up there. The special effects and cinematography are passable but I enjoyed the vibrant colours. The acting is pretty good overall. Brendan Fraser and Paul Bettany are good enough. Eliza Bennett is impressive. Sienna Guillory is very effective in a small role. Andy Serkis is fairly adequate. Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent provide brilliant comic relief. Even though the film hasn't reached its potential, given the novel and intriguing concept, it manages to still be a decent entertainer for the entire family.