'' is a '', ''
The Reptile Room '', and ''
The Wide Window ''.
The film follows the adventures of three newly orphaned children (played by
Emily Browning ,
Liam Aiken ,
Kara & Shelby Hoffman ) who try to escape from the deranged Count Olaf (
Jim Carrey ) in a series of different adventures. Co-stars include
Jude Law as Lemony Snicket,
Timothy Spall as Mr. Poe,
Billy Connolly as Uncle Monty,
Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine, and
Cedric The Entertainer as the Constable.
The film takes place in a highly stylized, highly
Anachronized version of the
United States (the letter that
Violet is reading near the end has a
Boston address). As in the books, exactly where and when the story takes place is unclear, and there are many mixed messages. The movie has been praised for its creative sets and costumes, all of which have a dark,
Goth ic feel, leading to a visual motif that is highly unusual and creative.
- On December 17, Christmas cheer takes a holiday
- Mishaps, Mayhem, Misadventures, Oh Joy.
- Don't say we didn't warn you.
- This Holiday, Christmas Cheer takes a break.
- At last a holiday movie without all that pesky hope and joy.
- We're very concerned.
The DVD (widescreen and fullscreen versions) and VHS video were released on 26 April 2005. There is also a two-disc widescreen DVD Special Edition. The standard DVD package contains a single disc; however,
Circuit City included a second disc with further behind-the-scenes footage and original trailers within "specially marked packages," but this "Circuit City Bonus Disc" only contains a fraction of the further bonus material that is found within the widescreen Special Edition package.
The Lemony Snicket DVD sold by
Target also comes with ''The Blank Book'', a small
Diary . The DVD edition sold at
Wal-Mart included a copy of ''The Bad Beginning.''
The film is
Narrated by Lemony Snicket (played here by
Jude Law as opposed to the "real" Snicket, i.e.
Daniel Handler ), who occasionally appears in silhouette, writing the story on a
Typewriter in what appears to be the interior of a
Clock Tower .
Inventive
Violet Baudelaire and her siblings, bookish
Klaus , and sharp-toothed baby
Sunny - are
Orphan ed by a mysterious fire that destroys their parents'
Mansion .
They are then placed in the care of bank manager Mr. Poe, who entrusts them to their "closest relative" - however, misinterpreting the phrase, Mr. Poe chooses the relative who lives the shortest ''distance'' away, the obnoxious
Count Olaf . Olaf promises to take care of the orphans "as if they were actually wanted" but in fact he is only interested in the huge fortune that Violet will
Inherit as soon as she turns 18. In the meantime he treats them like
Slave s. In a
Controversial scene, Olaf slaps Klaus hard for daring to talk back to him.
Eventually, after a failed attempt by Olaf to
Murder them for the money, the children are returned to Mr. Poe's care and sent to live with their
Uncle Monty , a cheerfully eccentric
Herpetologist with a well-stocked
Reptile room, who is planning a trip to
Peru . Unfortunately their idyllic sojourn with Monty is cut short when Olaf turns up in
Disguise , pretending to be a replacement for Monty's assistant. The Baudelaires see through the disguise instantly and manage to warn Monty, but too late to prevent Olaf from killing him.
The Baudelaires are forced to move on again, this time to the shores of
Lake Lachrymose , where their
Aunt Josephine , who seems to have a
Phobia of almost everything, lives in a house precariously perched on the edge of a
Cliff , with a wide window overlooking the
Lake . The house seems to contain clues to the cause of the fire that killed their parents, but before they can discover more, Olaf turns up again, disguised as a
Sailor , and courts Josephine.
Later on, the orphans discover that Josephine has gone. She has left what looks like a
Suicide Note , but which is actually a
Coded message telling them that she is hiding in a cave on the lakeshore. Before they can follow, the Baudelaires have a narrow escape from the house when it is torn apart by a
Hurricane . They eventually find Josephine, and attempt to take her to safety, but Olaf finds them first, takes the Baudelaires and leaves Josephine at the mercy of the deadly
Lachrymose Leeches .
Back at Olaf's home, he concocts another scheme that involves staging a
Play starring himself and Violet. In the play, his character will marry Violet's character, but in such a way that the
Marriage will actually be legal, giving him access to her money. To ensure Violet's cooperation he holds Sunny
Hostage . While the play is in progress before an invited audience, Klaus attempts to rescue Sunny. In doing so, he also discovers a device (an eye shaped mirror) which seems to have been the cause of the original fire.
Olaf's plan is thwarted at the last minute when Klaus uses the eye to burn the marriage certificate.
Count Olaf is sentenced to suffer every thing the Baudelaire's went through and then spend his life in behind bars, but he is released by his minions when he is in prison, and the children are left to ponder the future.
Like the original books, the movie contains various clues to the mystery of the Baudelaire parents' deaths. For instance, the children discover that all of their relatives seemed to own
Spyglasses , and acquire one themselves at the end. Count Olaf has an
Eye -shaped
Tattoo on his ankle, and Aunt Josephine's wide window is also eye-shaped. The mysterious initials "
V.F.D. " can also be spotted at at least one point.
There are quite a few differences between the books and the film. Many of the changes involve some dark content being toned down. An example of this is the ending of ''
The Wide Window ''. In the movie, Olaf merely leaves Aunt Josephine alone to fend for herself on a sinking boat. The book's ending is much more sinister; Olaf ''pushes'' Josephine into the water, and the torn remnants of her
Lifejacket are later discovered.
The film makers also added to (and, in some opinions, convoluted) the "V.F.D." mystery by adding a spyglass that the members possess. So far, Lemony Snicket has never incorporated such a device into his plot.
A small part was added to the movie in the scene when Olaf tries to kill the Baudelaires by stopping his
Car on the
Rail Track ,
Locking them inside, and waiting for the train to come. Luckily, the orphans escape by using one of Violet's inventions to flip the
Railroad Switch just as Mr. Poe arrives.
Another big change to the source materials is making Count Olaf responsible for the Baudelaire fire via a giant eye shaped mirror. It ''has'' been implied slightly that Olaf had a hand in it (he is a noted arsonist) but has never been explicitly revealed.
The film became a moderate hit at the
Box Office during the 2004 holiday season, eventually earning over $100 million in North America.
There are constant rumors of a sequel, but none of these have ever materialized. Emily Browning is contracted for a sequel movie if ever produced.
- The title "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" is not in the main title sequence. Instead, it is a Computer-animated cartoon (made to look like Stop Motion ) titled "The Littlest Elf" and after about thirty seconds, the scene abruptly stops. Snicket then begins setting up the story (repeatedly urging the Audience that they have the opportunity to leave the Theater , living room, or Airplane where the film is being shown).
- The end titles give no credit to end-title-director Jamie Caliri or his crew.
- The movie employed a site for Viral Marketing , http://CountOlaf.com.
- The store in which Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) waits for the Baudelaire's death on the train tracks, is the Last Chance General Store which appears in Book the Eighth, The Hostile Hospital . When we first see Olaf inside the store, a man in the background can be seen reading a newspaper called the ''Daily Punctilio''. This newspaper made its debut in The Vile Village , and appeared in subsequent episodes.
- In the scene in the Baudalaire's gutted mansion, where Klaus picks up a spyglass, the letters V.F.D can be seen on a box within the desk. These letters form an important plot point within the novels. This very box is shown containing what looks like Verdant Flammable Devices, mentionned in the 10th book, the Slippery Slope.
- Count Olaf's car is a Chrysler Imperial .
- Mr Poe's car is a Tatra T603 .
- In the books, the play scene where Count Olaf tries to marry Violet is in The Bad Beginning , while in the movie, it is after the plot of The Wide Window .
The movie garnered a mostly positive reaction from critics, earning a 71% score at the popular critic review site,
Rottentomatoes.com . Most negative criticism concerned Jim Carrey's portrayal of Count Olaf, claiming that he made the villain more interesting than the heroes. Another criticism concerned the inclusion the
AFLAC Duck in a scene of the movie, which came across as a shameless
Marketing Ploy.
However, much praise was put on the child actors, especially
Australia n actress
Emily Browning ;
Jim Carrey said, "...Emily is just going to break a million hearts".
Billy Connolly and
Meryl Streep also received praise for their portrayals of Dr. Montgomery Montgomery and Aunt Josephine, respectively. The movie was also critically acclaimed for its artwork.
Another criticism is the "toning down" of the film. The original film was much darker and more faithful to the source material but was edited to make it more appealing for younger children. Some examples of scenes removed from the book include Olaf threatening to chop of one of Sunny's toes from ''The Reptile Room'' and Olaf pushing Aunt Josephine off a boat into the leech-infested lake in ''The Wide Window''. (In the film version, Olaf merely leaves her to die on the sinking boat.)
The film won an
Academy Award For Makeup and was nominated for the awards for
Original Music Score ,
Costume Design , and
Art Direction .
