Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

When a massive fire kills their parents, three children are delivered to the custody of cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, who is secretly plotting to steal their parents' vast fortune.

Director:

Brad Silberling

Writers:

Robert Gordon (screenplay), Daniel Handler (books)

Stars:

Jim Carrey, Liam Aiken, Jude Law

Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jim Carrey	...	Count Olaf
Liam Aiken	...	Klaus
Emily Browning	...	Violet
Kara Hoffman	...	Sunny
Shelby Hoffman	...	Sunny
Jude Law	...	Lemony Snicket (voice)
Timothy Spall	...	Mr. Poe
Catherine O'Hara	...	Justice Strauss
Billy Connolly	...	Uncle Monty
Meryl Streep	...	Aunt Josephine
Luis Guzmán	...	Bald Man (as Luis Guzman)
Jamie Harris	...	Hook-Handed Man
Craig Ferguson	...	Person of Indeterminate Gender
Jennifer Coolidge	...	White Faced Woman
Jane Adams	...	White Faced Woman

Storyline

Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire are three intelligent young children who receive terrible news that their parents have died in a fire and have left them an enormous fortune not to be used until the eldest child is of age. When they are sent to live with Count Olaf, a greedy distant relative, they soon learn he is trying to steal their fortune for himself.

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Plot Keywords:

count | fire | orphan | children | death | 

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Taglines:

At last a holiday movie without all that pesky hope and joy.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements, scary situations and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Paramount Pictures - Count Olaf site

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 December 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lemony Snicket

Filming Locations:

Downey Studios - 12214 Lakewood Boulevard, Downey, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$361,125 (Japan) (6 May 2005)

Gross:

$1,918,915 (Japan) (13 May 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX DTS-ES

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the car scene, Count Olaf is in the "Last Chance General Store". He is holding up a newspaper to his face, The back of the paper reads "Veritable French Diner." This translated into 'VFD', the secret organization that the Baudelaire parents, Uncle Monty, Aunt Josephine, and many others through out the book were involved in.

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Goofs

At the start of the wedding play, we see Olaf's actresses singing, "Nothing in the world..." and the curtains behind them open. In the next shot, Klaus is sneaking away from the stage, and the curtains are closed. (This goof results from of the cutting of an earlier sequence.)

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lemony Snicket: [the Littlest Elf has just come to an abrupt halt] I'm sorry to say that this is not the movie you will be watching. The movie you are about to see is extremely unpleasant. If you wish to see a film about a happy little elf, I'm sure there is still plenty of seating in theatre number two. However, if you like stories about clever and reasonably attractive orphans, suspicious fires, carnivorous leeches, Italian food and secret organizations, then stay, as I retrace each and every one...

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Crazy Credits

There is a credit for 'baby wrangler'.

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Connections

Featured in The 77th Annual Academy Awards (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Loverly Spring"
By Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein

User Reviews

Dark but compelling fantasy adventure

Having read none of the Lemony Snickett books, I was unsure of what to expect from this film.

The film begins with a gentle introduction that quickly turns into a humorous, but noteworthy, disclaimer that the following film has dark underlying themes. The main characters are introduced (the three children) and almost instantly we are subjected to the news of the first in a series, or unfortunate events. The film is fast paced and sends the children from one unfortunate situation to another, with Jude Law doing a splendid job of narrating the story along the way. The children a likable and resourceful characters with good chemistry between the actors. You genuinely feel they care about each other and have a great desire to help each other out of these incredible situations.

The real star of the show of course is Jim Carrey. This film provides the perfect platform for Mr Carrey to do what he does best, goof around and play over the top and outlandish characters. In this role Jim Carrey excels, never goofing off to much to undermine the credibility of the character, but being suitably over the top to convey the eccentric old count.

Visually, the film is stunning, the sets look straight out of a Tim Burton film, the costumes are fantastic, the direction is splendid and does a fine job of progressing the story. The visual effects are tremendous and fit in with the tale perfectly, never distracting nor undermining.

This film is quite dark for a children's film, but not dark in a sinister way, but dark in a spooky hallowe'en sort of way that kids love. Watching the film reminded me of reading Rhoal Dahl books as a child, with the over the top characters and out of this world situations.

The plot of the film is fast paced, but contains good character development and plenty of action and adventure. I would recommend this film to children and adults alike.