A Series of Unfortunate Events

Movie: A Series of Unfortunate Events. After the dismal reviews I’d read when it was released in theatres, I expected to be disappointed. So I was glad I wasn’t. The cinematography lends itself to comparisons with Tim Burton and Roald Dahl but probably owes more to the Edwardianness of Edward Gorey and Charles Addams. One scene towards the end where they make a final stop at their old house is visually stunning. Well, as are many other scenes. Jim Carrey’s galumphing and over the top acting is appropriate for the stick-figured Count Olaf since Olaf is an over the top, galumphing actor (who I believe I dated in a previous incarnation. Ah yes, I recognised some of that emoting and manipulative timbre.) The ubiquitous (which here means “He’s everywhere! He’s everywhere!”) Jude Law continues his quest to be a one man film invasion by playing the silhouetted narrator. I loved Meryl Streep and her floppy bun as the delightfully anxious, literally living on the edge Aunt Josephine. And Billy Connelly can sing me Scottish dirges whenever he wants. Baby Sunny’s expressions throughout the movie were almost better than her snarkisms (which in the books are more monosyllabic and more ingenious.) Only inexplicable were Klaus’s missing glasses.