Friday
23Jan2009
Movie Review - 'Inkheart'
Friday, January 23, 2009 at 12:01AM | Inkheart
Starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, and Andy Serkis  |
Taken from the pages of Cornelia Funke’s young adult novel, Inkheart creates its own little world of fantasy and reality, one filled with familiar characters and brand new ones, and above all else, it encourages kids to read. Of course, a movie about reading is slightly counterintuitive, but Inkheart simply can’t contain its love for a good book, and how can you judge it for that?
Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser) was reading a bedtime story to his daughter Meggie when he noticed the strangest thing. While describing Little Red Riding Hood’s little red riding hood, it suddenly appeared outside his window. Mo could make things in stories pop out of the books and into the real world. That’s fine if it’s just a clothing accessory, but what if he read In Cold Blood out loud, or Lady Chatterly’s Lover?
Mo clearly didn’t hear that warning in his head when he read Inkheart aloud to his wife and daughter. Out from the pages of the tattered old fiction came a rogue’s gallery of villains, led by Capricorn (Andy Serkis from Lord of the Rings), as well as a kind of magic user named Dustfinger (Paul Bettany), who was just in the wrong paragraph at the wrong time.
The problem is, once these characters are no longer in the book, their places needs to be filled by something from the literal world. That explains why we don’t see much of Meggie’s mother, who has been sucked into the Inkheart universe. As a Silvertongue – the name for Mo’s unusual ability – he can always talk her back home by reading a description of her character. However, Inkheart is a rare book, and Mo spends a decade trying to track one down.
Is this concept a little too heady for kids? On the contrary, it’s exactly the kind of spark that really blooms in a young, imaginative mind. Transporting from the here and now into the story of one of your favorite reads or summoning a great character into your own life is ideal for children of a certain age. That it promotes discovering new adventures within old books is just a bonus.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Adaptations, Brendan Fraser, Inkheart, Reviews | Print Article | Email Article | 3 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (3)
Yeah, I really don't understand the whole Brendan Fraser phenomenon. Maybe it's just because none of his movies appeal to me. Or maybe it's just because I don't think he's a very good actor. Either way, I don't see it. I guess he is strangely likable in a weird way, though. I loved him in Airheads so I guess that one appealed to me. :)
Anyways, I really want to see this movie, and I think you're right about Paul Bettany. He was probably the best part of The Da Vinci Code, which I thought was lacking for the most part. But that's another story, and I'm done rambling.
Granted, I don't have kids, but this movie just sounds like a blend of Jumanji and Bedtime Stories. By the way, your comment on the radio this morning was hilarious: "Yeah, I saw it. But who's going to see this?"
And you could totally take Goodykoontz.
i read the book in november, when visiting a friend who has a daughter that loves the series... it will be interesting, as always, to compare the two.