Inkheart

2008 "Every story ever written is just waiting to become real."
6.1| 1h46m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 17 December 2008 Released
Producted By: New Line Cinema
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.inkheartmovie.com/
Synopsis

The adventures of a father and his young daughter, in their search for a long lost book that will help reunite a missing, close relative.

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Reviews

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Fedorahawk If you have read the book, Inkheart, your in for a disappointment. If you haven't read the book, you will still be in a very depressed state. The filming is sub-par, the story an insult to the original work, and the acting is painful, very painful. The story that the movie presents is hard to follow at times, and throws in backstories from every other side character. Some of the effects are interesting, but most of them are crap. It's a festival of uninteresting scenes, filled with bland dialogue and unimaginative chemistry between the characters. All in all this film is a depressing example of a terrible adaptation from novel to film, its bad all around.
SnoopyStyle There are those who can bring characters into life by reading out loud. They are called Silvertongue and Mo (Brendan Fraser) is one of them. He reads a book to his young daughter. Now 12 years later, Meggie (Eliza Bennett) is grown up and Mo is searching for a particular book. Dustfinger (Paul Bettany) catches up to him but they escape to her great-aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren) in Italy. Meanwhile Dustfinger has called in the evil Capricorn (Andy Serkis) to help. On that fateful night years ago, Mo had read Inkheart and Dustfinger, Capricorn, and Basta came out while his wife Resa (Sienna Guillory) got read in.The story is convoluted and needs a good long explanation to set things up properly. I think this idea is quite interesting but it might be even more compelling if the characters are from a classic. Imagine if he read Peter Pan and they're battling Hook. Instead nobody knows these fictional characters. The premise is promising but a few things need to be worked out. Why is he looking for the book since he obviously had the book? Why doesn't he just read out his wife before? The power feels random. If the character doesn't know how it works, it's hard for the audience to work it out. I feel that it makes more sense if we see what he did to get his wife back all those years ago.There is also a clash of tones. Andy Serkis is quite scary and Paul Bettany is trying to be serious. They seem fitting to be in a darker fare, but the tone is more whimsical. Brendan Fraser is part of that whimsy along with Jim Broadbent who plays the really stupid author of Inkheart. His stupidity is not charming nor funny. Overall this is a promising premise. I'm not sure if the problem is trying to adapt it to the big screen or the actual novel itself. If the girl did what she did to save the day, why couldn't the father have done the same thing years ago?
WakenPayne This movie is about someone with the ability of creating book characters to life just by reading aloud. The only catch of that is that when that happens someone or something from this world goes back in. Okay, interesting idea. Just needed to be executed a little bit better.The acting is solid for what has been given to the actors, everything is made on a competent level but there is nothing with it to make it shine at all.One thing I didn't like about the movie though was the ending, where Meggie starts to write down on her arm what she wanted to happen, then it does happen - Sorry I just couldn't work with that.So this is good for what it was but just really forgettable.
TheLittleSongbird I have not read the books, but I have heard nothing but good things. I did enjoy Inkheart on the whole, but something was missing in translation and I can't put my finger on it.Inkheart does have a number of good things. The visuals, down from the cinematography, settings and costumes, are truly excellent and Javier Navarette's score is enchanting. The film is well-directed as well.And overall, I did enjoy the acting. The best of the lot comes from Paul Bettany who is stunning and steals every scene he's in and Helen Mirren who is deliciously batty. Brendan Fraser is dashing as well, Jim Broadbent is very entertaining and there is a believable child performance from Eliza Bennett. For me, the only two performances that didn't work were Sienna Guillory who was bland and dare I say sometimes irritating both in character and acting and (sadly) Andy Serkis who doesn't get anywhere near enough screen time to shine properly.While the flawed assets have enough magic, heart and charm to them, they are still flawed. The story structure(great idea by the way) and script are both disjointed overall, and some parts felt rushed such as the ending. The characters are likable too, but also under-developed and fall into cliché territory.Overall, enjoyable and charming but there is nothing really spectacular apart from some performances, the music and visuals. 6/10 Bethany Cox