Based on the Cornelia Funke (no relation to Tobias) novel, the story centers on a young girl(Sienna Guillory) who discovers her father (Brendan "I make any movies for money" Frasier) has an amazing talent to bring characters out of their books and into reality. After accidentally banishing his wife to the land of books, her father, Mo, sets out on a nine year quest to bring her back, all the while being pursued by a villain he unleashed on the world. Mo and his daughter must try to stop the freed villain (Andy Serkis) from destroying them all, with the help her aunt and some storybook characters.
Sounds like a pleasant enough children's story right? And while the story's concept seems alluring, the execution is clumsy and ridiculous. The characters are no doubt cliff's note versions of their textual origins, and the films good intentions get muddied by the visual effect set pieces. And that's just the beginning. I'm sure Funke's novel doesn't share many of the films problems, and it no doubt seems like it could have been a Last Action Hero meets The Never Ending Story type film, but it just never comes together. To call the film bad is too easy, it's just less than mediocre. When you're an audience member, and it dawns on you what should have been done to correct so many of the films missteps, you know something is wrong. And that's just the storytelling of the film. The script does itself no favors, with it's clunky awkward dialogue. E.G., a nefarious looking fire dancer played by Paul Bettany chases down Brendan Frasier with the help of his ferrett side kick, and once he pins him in a darkened alley he leans into to our fairy tale hero and at an almost whisper says, "Read to me?" The suspension of disbelief can be strong, but sometimes dumb is just dumb.
That being said Paul Bettany does do a fine job,and Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent offer some good comedic relief. Andy Serkis also seems to be making the most of his situation and though he sometimes borders on scene chewery, he is always enjoyable to watch. The visual effects, while superfluous, are relatively impressive, and the costume design isn't too shabby either. It's a shame such an intriguing sounding novel didn't turn out better, but it seems these characters might have been best served had they not been brought to life at all.
--Greg MacLennan
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