Not Recommended. I put this into the category of boring expensive kid’s films like Harry Potter. I actually had to go to the bathroom in the middle of it and waited for an action sequence cause I knew I wouldn’t miss anything. This movie tries to bring some depth to the kids genre by being a story that isn’t about happy endings with elves and sweet candy. It’s the story of three siblings whose rich parents die and whose uncle, Count Olaf, wants to get rid of them so he can inherit the money. Jim Carey is great in the role of the sleazy actor, Count Olaf, trying to off the little siblings. And it’s not a dreadfully boring movie like Harry Potter. But it does seem a bit dark for younger kids, what with all the death and scariness going on in it. The narrator gloats over how his story is not happy at all and if you want happy stories, you had better go elsewhere. Then again, look at many of the original fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood and others. Those were very brutal stories and yet they are classics. On one level, I think the essence of growing up and “coming of age” is precisely facing one’s mortality and fairy tales help children to do this. Fantasy can be extreme cause its not real life, and it is symbolic. So it could be argued that this story is in that tradition. Okay. Fine. But the moral of the story is read at the end through a letter to the kids from their parents that was sent to them before they had died. And it just reads like a tacked on moral that doesn’t carry much weight to it. It was not emotionally moving or incarnate like The Incredibles. The parents just tell the kids, after we have seen them go through all these life threatening attacks from evil people, that “there’s much more good in the world than bad, you just have to look hard. And what may seem as unfortunate incidents can be a doorway to a new journey. With family around, there’s always something to do, whether inventing something (like the older sister Violet) or reading (like the middle brother Klaus) or biting (like the young Sunny).” Well, it just doesn’t have much punch to it. Like this is the solace for all the pain and suffering in life? Like this is how we grow up by just sticking our head in the sand regarding evil and keep moving? Very weak and humanistic. Without any moral fiber or character. Unsatisfying. It should be “Fight evil!” “Do right!” Like The Incredibles.
