 STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED |
 Classic
|
 Excellent
|
 Good
|
 Fair
|
 Tragic
|
|
| FILM DETAILS | Certificate
PG | | Cast
Brendan Fraser
Andy Serkis
Eliza Bennet
Paul Bettany. | | Directors
Iain Softley. | | | Screenwriters | | Running Time
106 mins. minutes |
|
|
|
Inkheart (PG) Plot
Mo (Fraser) can summon characters from books by reading aloud. He is nagged by Dustfinger (Bettany), a fictional character who wants to go home, and hunted by Capricorn (Serkis), who wants to exploit Mo and his similarly-talented daughter Meggie (Bennett) to evil ends.Review
The central idea of Inkheart — which originates with novelist Cornelia Funke — is irresistible, but the movie is somewhat limited by a hesitancy of imagination (and the spectre of copyright). Its established ‘silvertongues’ are wary of using their power to summon characters (and objects) from books, since a universal balance means that real people (like the hero’s own wife) vanish into fiction to even things up — but the ‘book doctor’ played by Brendan Fraser might solve his problems more swiftly if he read more widely. Since his big mission is raiding a castle to rescue his family, he could easily whip up some characters like James Bond or Superman to save the day. Inkheart is a bit of a mess, with many characters running around interesting, misty Italian locations at crossed purposes while the screenplay struggles to establish the rules of its fantastical premise. There is a lot of suggestive detail (like the backwards texts stained on characters imperfectly summoned by a stuttering silvertongue) and cameos for the likes of Rapunzel, but the bigger picture never quite coalesces, and we’re left with a few tantalising questions — like whether Inkheart the novel becomes a lot duller since all its villains are displaced into the real world. Brendan Fraser is yet again cast as a supposed hero in danger of getting lost in a busy crowd (and Sienna Guillory as his vanished-but-not-really wife fares even worse), but there’s showboating fun from Paul Bettany as a cowardly flame-thrower with an appropriate companion animal (“So you can speak Weasel? I’m not surprised.”), Helen Mirren as a dotty bibliophile aunt, Jim Broadbent as a useless writer who is delighted to see his characters in the flesh even as they abuse him, and Andy Serkis in a variant of the Charles Dance role in Last Action Hero as a fictional villain delighted to be in a world where good doesn’t always win. Smartly directed by Iain Softley, who skips easily from comedy to fantasy to action, Inkheart gets by on a rich cast of supporting characters (and a fine selection of British eccentric character actors, including John Thomas, Jamie Foreman, Matt King and Steve Speirs), a unique and intriguing look, and a good, big scary monster (The Shadow) at the end.
Verdict
Magical, if messy — this gets by on a good heart, high adventure and an unashamed love for books.
Reviewer: Kim Newman
Get this review and thousands more on on your iPhone, download the Empire Movie Guide now!
Write Your Review
To submit your own review and rating please login or register.
Advertisement
Average user rating for Inkheart
| RE: Boring | | It doesn't come out for a few more weeks in the US. The marketing company I work for is doing a promotion for it. You can check out the trailer and other assets (pics, web applications, etc.) at:
alibri]http://youcastcorp.com/inkheart/. I think it looks like it could be entertaining. ... Read More
| | | EvilEmpire About me | | 15:39, 12 January 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Boring | | | Saw this on Christmas Eve and what a let down. The pace is painfully slow and sleep inducing and the plot is frustrating. Quite frankly I found it boring. ... Read More
| | | The kUrGaN About me | | 07:38, 31 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Inkheart | | ABSOLUTE SHITE
From the trailer, this film looked like it could be film of the year. To say it was disappointing is an understatement.
I was bored watching the film, so was my 11 year old cousin. ... Read More
| | | adam_wilde About me | | 22:58, 30 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Inkheart | | | I really enjoyed the movie all the way through although there is one tiny little critisism......i really did not think the bad guys were cast well.....none could really act and as for the london accents....**rolls eyes** although all the good guys were played brilliantly!! I also loved the storyline and style of the film,,,,4.5/5 ... Read More
| | | Chimene About me | | 22:19, 30 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Good conecpt, repetitive plotting | | | Under-rated. Paul Bettany is awesome, and Andy Serkis makes for a great villain. The concept is a clever one, and I genuinely wanted to see the happy ending. Shame it's not getting more promotion.
7/10 ... Read More
| | | Paul2j About me | | 22:15, 30 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Good conecpt, repetitive plotting | | | It's good, don't get me wrong but I agree wholeheartedly with the Empire reviewer - it's all a bit confused and the plot is - go to A, escape from A to B then head back to A. The Shadow was slightly scary though and the acting, especially from Bettany was good all-round. The score was nothing to write home about though and it needed more wit and invention. ... Read More
| | | sunnygirly2k4 About me | | 16:21, 22 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Inkheart | | | Great fun with a good cast (Bettany, Mirren and Serkis were superb whilst Broadbent was excellent) and some nifty effects...
4/5
... Read More
| | | DJ Rob C: Mark II! About me | | 15:36, 20 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Inkheart | | | While I agree it was a bit of a dissapointment in terms of spectacle and plot structure I think this film managed to still draw warmth, humour and excitement out in a far greater way than The Golden Compass (a film which had three times the budget of 'Inkheart')...
Fraser was a bit wobbly as the hero, cast at the request of the source novel's author, but the supporting cast was generally excellent; especially Paul Bettany. The real problem with the film is its storytelling, whic... Read More
| | | kingoftheducks About me | | 15:23, 20 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | RE: Inkheart | | Great concept - hero has ability to make characters from books come to life by reading aloud - with a lot of potential. Such a shame that it is so poorly realised.
The film lurches from one scene to the next via a succession of poor edits and clumsy exposition with a few tantalising glimpses of the world that the concept promises but never capitalises on. With such a great cast line-up it's a real missed opportunity that most of them (Helen Mirren especially) are given so little to do.
... Read More
| | | Gazdance About me | | 17:14, 19 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | | | Brendan Fraser needs to stop with the smirkes and silly gags or he's in danger of becoming a has been (if he isn't all ready), The structor of the film is terrible, it misses out things that I would have liked to have seen first hand, rather than be told in bad exposion and flash backs. Paul Bettany is exellent, though so much more could have been dones with the whole film. A good sunday afternoon or a rainy bank holiday film. Wouldn't advise people to pay for it though. ... Read More
| | | picknmix About me | | 11:59, 18 December 2008 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Next Page |
|
|
|
