AMB Reviews

Inkheart: 6.5/10 Stars

Release Date: January 23, 2009

Content Advisory: Rated PG for fantasy adventure action, some scary moments and brief language. Several minor scuffles. Punches and kicks are thrown. Several are threatened with knives, though none are actually killed. We see the ever so briefest glimpse of a corpse and a storm wreaks havoc throughout a town, destroying homes and buildings. A huge climatic fight involves much chaos and the normal fantasy action. A man dissolves into ash. A scary monster is made out of smoke and retains a skull-like face. 

Review: 

Inkheart is based on the popular book by Cornelia Funke. Though my 5th grade teacher read this novel out loud to us back then... I don't remember much of anything about it. That being said, viewing the trailers for this film, I was nervous that they'd completely wreck the book. Did they? I wouldn't say wreck... but they didn't do it complete justice either...

In Short:

Inkheart is a movie that is original and at the same time, unoriginal. The concept of reading characters out of books is fresh and creative... where as, the way they come about projecting that concept is not. Inkheart was a movie I found that steadily got worse as it went along. It started out good enough... halfway through came, and it was still somewhat decent. However, when that ending fight rolled around, I sighed, asking myself, "Where have I seen this before?" The answer is... everywhere. Almost every fantasy movie ends with a huge fight scene, and the one in Inkheart really didn't offer anything new. Think of it as a very steep hill. It starts off at the very top of the hill. Then some stones fall loose and you slowly, inch by inch, start to slip down the hill. In the end, you don't pull yourself back up... you end up at the bottom of that hill. 

In Full: 

Inkheart is a movie about books. But not just any books. A book entitled (surprise!), "Inkheart." Finds out, some people in life are gifted with the ability to read characters out of books and into the real world. Mo Folchart just so happens to have that gift. And after releasing a notorious villain out of the book, Mo must protect his daughter, Meggie and try to find his wife (who was accidentally transported into the book) before it's too late. Along the way, they meet a whole horde of characters, including the flame thrower, Dustfinger, the author of Inkheart, and Mo and Meggie's aunt (Elinor).... played wonderfully by Helen Mirren.

The acting, in itself, was a definite pro to this film. As stated already, Helen Mirren was splendid and the perfect choice for Elinor... the stubborn, pessimistic old lady, who eventually must learn to step beyond her comfort zone (meaning her house) and try to help Meggie and Mo in their journey. Brendan Fraser played Mo nicely as well, along with Eliza Bennett as Meggie. Though I haven't seen much of either of those two, they seemed to have nice chemistry and worked together well in the film. Paul Bettany joined the cast as Dustfinger, whom I had seen in Firewall. He ended up doing a decent job as well... and in the end, I really can't think of one actor or actress that dissappointed. 

The visuals, as I said before, though very nicely done... seemed a bit too over the top in this film. Though I occasionally love a good, brainless action film, with explosions and fights all over the place (Eagle Eye, anyone??)... that is not what I was wanting to watch in Inkheart. Is that what I ended up getting? Mmm... no, not quite. This movie did have its lessons to be learned... and also showed us the importance of family. And up until the end of the film... nothing seemed too exaggerrated. And then the fight rolled around, and some huge smoke monster came out of nowhere and a huge fight broke out, and I was sitting in my seat, thinking... "Is this really how it was supposed to be?" I kept wondering whether or not the makers actually made this film to stay true to the book, or to see how many kids they could get in to the theater, in need of a good dose of over the top fantasy action. I'm leaning towards the latter.  

"It is all in the anticipation of the bang, not in the actual bang itself." The great Sir Alfred Hitchcock said those words... and I believe that they still are true today (despite Saw's, Hostel's, or Friday the 13th's attempts to do so otherwise). The problem with Inkheart, is that it never really grows suspenseful. I found myself searching just to find the "anticipation of the bang." Rather, they just rely heavily on special effects and cut right to the "bang." And no matter how action-packed that "bang" is... you're left wondering how it got there and where the suspense was leading up to it.

In the end, Inkheart is a mixed bag for me. As noted above, Inkheart starts out nicely. In fact, the opening scene, that lasts maybe two minutes, is very clever and had me smiling. From there on, it keeps a nice pace, as Meggie and Mo venture from a bookstore to their aunt's house, to the villain's castle, and so on. The film retains a great pace throughout and the acting is also nicely done. But this movie doesn't stay perfect forever. Though my 9-year-old sister called this movie "super amazing... A+!!!" material... I would have to disagree. For every adult out there, or teenager to pay close enough attention... I never really felt like the creators of this movie cared too much about how closely they stuck to the book. Rather, they just tried to throw in some good fight scenes, over-the-top fantasy monsters, retain a similar plot to the book, and call it done. With a $60,000,000 budget... it's hard not to exaggerrate just a bit. And some may like that (take, my 9-year-old sister for example). For others, such as me, and many fans of the book, I am guessing... you may want to look elsewhere.