Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Starring: Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Jude Law (voice), et al.

Product Description

When their parents are killed in a mysterious house fire, three orphans are forced to live with their uncle, the strange actor Count Olaf. When his plan to steal the children's inheritance is uncovered, the orphans are moved to a new family member, but the resourceful Count is hot on their trail and determined to win their inheritance by any means necessary.

• Format: DVD
• Language: English
• UPC: 097360300543
• Release Date: January 2004
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Publisher: Paramount
• Director: Brad Silberling
• Starring: Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, Jude Law (voice), Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Billy Connolly, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Adams, Craig Ferguson, Jamie Harris
• Runtime: 1 hour, 53 minutes
• Number of Disks: 2
• Other Video Info: collectors_edition
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Great narration – over the top acting

The Baudelaire children lead a cushy life of reading books, inventing, and biting. One day at the beach, Mr. Poe (Timothy Spall) informs them of the unfortunate event of their house and parents' burning down. They have been shuffled around to various unrelated relatives. At every turn, they are pursued by their uncle Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), who covets their inheritance. Trying to explain this to grown-ups is almost impossible. Great narration of the movie by Jude Law; he added a dimension that made you want to see what was happening next. The books offer such great (terrible) resources for the movie. However, it was a bit much trying to cram three books into one movie. Each book has more than enough storyline for a movie. The events were taken out of order, which watered down the pathos, and everyone could tell this even if they did not read the books. The details are there, but we miss the purpose and the lessons. They chose just the right actors to play the Baudelaire brats, Violet, Klaus, and baby Sunny (Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, Kara, and Shelby Hoffman). They did a great job of depicting the book's characters. The addition of the underscore for Sunny was a nice touch. The only real negative part of the movie was using Jim Carry in the place of Count Olaf. He was too exaggerated even for Jim Carry and distracted from the spookiness of the story. What should have been spooky but see through the person turned out to be too clownish? They picked an excellent Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly), born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland, who looks and sounds like a cross between John Cleese and Sean Connery. During the ending credits, some great drawings make you think that this would have made a great cartoon series.