Inkheart

Entertaining with a good mix of comedy, action and interesting characters. Adventure/fantasy genre. I’d rate it 3 (just) out of 4 stars.

Running Length: 1:46
MPAA Classification: PG (Violence)
Cast:
Brendan Fraser, Eliza Hope Bennett, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Andy Serkis, Jim Broadbent, Sienna Guillory
Director: Iain Softley

The movie centers around Maggie Folchart and her dad Mo Folchart.  The story opens with Mo scouring yet another bookstore in their endless search for the book Inkheart. He finds a copy in this particular bookstore but while he was in the bookstore, his daugther Maggie is approached by Dustfinger, someone who seemingly knows her and her father. After a confrontation between Mo and Dustfinger, Maggie and her father flee to visit Maggie’s grand aunt Elinor for temporary refuge. Alas, their respite is short lived because soon enough, we find that Dustfinger has led Capricorn’s henchmen right to them and all of them are captured as Elinor’s collection of books are burnt to ashes.

Image via Wikipedia

Soon we find out that Dustfinger and Capricorn are two characters from the book Inkheart and that Mo has the ability to read book stories to life (the term such people are called Silvertongue in the movie). Unfortunately, when a character from the book comes into the real world, someone from the real world is in turn sucked into the book. This is what happened to Maggie’s mom Resa.

The rest of the movie is about Capricorn wanting to use Mo’s ability for his own ends and Mo and Maggie’s efforts to get Resa back.

Let me just say from the start that the plot was not what made the movie enjoyable for me. For a movie background with considerable potential, the way rules were made up along the way in terms of a Silvertongue’s abilities did not really do viewers justice. There were also complaints that aside from Alice in Wonderland, there were a lot more classic stories that remained untapped during the course of the movie. That wasn’t much of an issue to me, however.

What I did enjoy was the wonderful spread of different characters and strong supporting actors. This is one of the movies I felt was really made ‘colourful’ by the assortment of supporting cast within the movie. Helen Mirrin plays her character as a real ‘firecracker’ character unafraid to speak her mind. Elinor is a grand aunt with tough exterior but really a softie at heart. Paul Bettany (from A Knight’s Tale and Wimbeldon) nails Dustfinger’s character as a self centered weasel who gradually gains some spine and makes the right stand when it counts. I really like his acting and it tough not to like his scoundrel character.

I’ve been told that this movie is meant to be the first part of a trilogy. I hope it isn’t. The ending might leave a little bit to be desired but there were some memorable moments in the movie. To be honest, I like it the way it is.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Movie Review: Inkheart (writer.fitzhome.com)
• Movie Review | ‘Inkheart’: Novel’s Characters Leap From the Page, Literally (movies.nytimes.com)
• Inkheart: A page turner, so to speak (thestar.com)
• Review: ‘Inkheart’ brings fantasy to life (cnn.com)
• Fraser, co-star find warmth in ‘Inkheart’ (cnn.com)

Related posts:

1. Star Trek Review Running Length: 2:06 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, Sexual Situations)...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.