As with the majority of recent fantasy movies, Inkheart makes the mistake of catering solely to young children. Having read the book on which it was based, this is not surprising seeing as the novel IS meant for kids, but it felt like the necessity of keeping everything PG somewhat limited the creativity of the artists. A bit too fantastical and whimsical, the suspense and tension of the book almost completely disappears, leaving behind a movie that is little more than a visual effects-laden fairy tale. While some of the scenery is stunning, the sets look and feel too much like, well, sets. Nothing feels really real or, therefore, threatening enough to give the audience the sense that the characters are in real danger.
Eliza Hope Bennett, who plays Meggie, the main character, looks - and is - sixteen, even though she is playing a twelve-year-old girl. While some acting talent shines through, she feels miscast and often comes off as whiny and annoying instead of innocent and scared. Andy Serkis, as the chief villain, Capricorn, failed to create a villain worth hating or cowering from, although, in his defense, Capricorn was always a rather weak and whimsical villain to begin with. It's a pity because his performance as Bill Sykes in the Masterpiece Theater version of 'Oliver Twist' was absolutely fantastic and proves to skeptics that his magnificent performance as Gollum in Lord of the Rings was not an accident or mere luck. On the other hand, while Helen Mirren and Brendan Fraser also turn in adequate performances, the movie's main saving grace is Paul Bettany's turn as the fire-wielding Dustfinger (who, by the way, was my favorite character in the book and also the most well-developed). He effectively conveys the desperation and conflicting emotions of a man willing to do anything to return home. In the end, I cared more about him than about Meggie or Mo, her father.
All in all, while it was sufficiently enjoyable and occasionally stunning to look at, there is little that sets Inkheart above any of the other fantasy novels recently turned into movies. It looks like for New Line Cinema, which, for the past several years, has been searching for the next Lord of the Rings, the search is not yet over.
