Unfortunately...

A Series of Unfortunate Events was, for me, a bit disappointing.

The aura of this movie was quite romantic, making you feel like you were in another world, another time, and the wasy the characters were dolled up made it all the more too real. Alas, with modern quips and somewhat bizaare anecdotes, i can't help but feel miffed --- why was it so? Even the jarring breaks between narrations brought about by the typewriter's inability to function well was part of the book (interesting, but jarring nonetheless). It was nice that they were true to the book even to that extent, but i wish that their dialogue would have been more true to the characters.

It's not that Jim Carrey wasn't amusing. He was, after all, THE Count Olaf. He looked the part, he spoke the part, he breathed the part. Alas, his over-the-top performance was quite a little too much Carrey that i didn't quite buy it. Plus, the contemporary jokes and references he made were quite disconcerting. I guess that for me was the flaw of the movie.

Considering it was a compression of three books, i'd say they had a good story there, although there were some scenes i wish they didn't have to elaborate with so much. I did however, enjoy how they weaved together bits and pieces of the three books, altogether making a comedic deluge of zany characters, interesting"misfortunes" and fun sets. Yup, the elaborate sets, costumes and yes, lovable Baudelaire kids (love Violet's gowns and coat!) made my watching a lot more fun.

I only read the first book but i managed to read some pages from his succeeding ones -- all depressingly sad. But that's the thing that drew me to watching the movie. Can a book so depressing, so morose and so negative in its theme, be transitioned into film ? The somewhat positive note the ending comes to makes me think twice about the movie -- after all, isn't the essence of Lemony Snicket's book about negativity and a not-so-happy ending? In the end of every book, there is an "ending" but not a "happy" one, always a start of the next misfortunte. I wish that this adaptation could have ended in a similar fashion, a bit uneasy and unresolved,leaving everybody wondering if there will be a sequel (more fun, don't you think?)

Now that would have been cool. :-)