Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (movie)

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 movie, directed by Brad Silberling. It is based on the first three books in "Lemony Snicket" (Daniel Handler)'s popular series of children's novels: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window.

Taglines: On December 17, Christmas cheer takes a holiday and Mishaps, Mayhem, Misadventures, Oh Joy.

Home video release

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 comes with "The Blank Book." The DVD edition sold at Wal-Mart included a copy of The Bad Beginning.

The Ebert & Roeper episode telecast during the weekend of April 30, 2005 noted that some copies of the home video included a "Two Thumbs Up!" endorsement. In fact, the pair gave the film "two affectionate thumbs down" on their show for the weekend of December 18, 2004.

Story

The film is narrated by Lemony Snicket (played here by Jude Law as opposed to the "real" Snicket, i. e., Handler), who occasionally appears in silhouette, writing the story on a manual typewriter in what appears to be the interior of a clock tower.

The story gets off to a bad beginning when the three Baudelaire children – inventive Violet, bookish Klaus, and sharp-toothed baby Sunny – are orphaned by a mysterious fire that destroys their parents' mansion.

They are then placed in the care of bank manager Mr. Poe, who misguidedly entrusts them to their "closest relative". 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 is determined to treat them like slaves. 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, they 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, ths 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 once more, disguised as a sailor, and courts Josephine.

Later on the orphans discover Josephine gone. She has left what looks like a suicide note, but which is actually in code and tells them 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 Badelaires 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. While doing so he also discovers a device that seems to have been the cause of the original fire. Olaf's plan is thwarted at the last minute, but he escapes and the children are left to ponder the future and possible sequels.

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 prime 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 off, and the torn remnants of her lifejacket are later discovered.

The film makers also added (and, in some opinions, convoluted) to 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.

Another big change to the source materials is having Count Olaf responsible for the Baudelaire fire via a giant spyglass. It has been implied slightly that Olaf had a hand in it (he is a noted arsonist) but has never been explicitly revealed.

Cast

• Jim Carrey – Count Olaf
• Meryl Streep – Aunt Josephine
• Jude Law – Lemony Snicket
• Emily Browning – Violet Baudelaire
• Liam Aiken – Klaus Baudelaire
• Kara Hoffman – Sunny Baudelaire
• Shelby Hoffman – Sunny Baudelaire
• Timothy Spall – Mr. Poe
• Billy Connolly – Uncle Monty
• Luis Guzmán – Bald Man
• Jennifer Coolidge – White Faced Woman #1
• Jane Adams – White Faced Woman #2
• Craig Ferguson – Person of Indeterminate Gender
• Jamie Harris – Hook-Handed Man
• Cedric the Entertainer – Detective
• Rosemary Garris – Wedding guest
• Gilbert Gottfried – AFLAC Duck (voice)
• Alan Heitz – Police Photographer
• Michael Earl Lane – Ferry Boat Captain
• Catherine O'Hara – Justice Strauss
• Deborah Theaker – Mrs. Poe
• Dustin Hoffman (uncredited cameo appearance) – Theatergoer

External links

• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Event at the Internet Movie Database
• Two thumbs down, a review from Ebert & Roeper; audio available here in MP3 format