Inkheart
Inkheart was a book I read back when it first came out in 2005 or so. It’s by an German authour named Cornelia Funke, and the basic premise is that Mortimer Folchart, (Mo for short) is a Silvertoungue, one of the few gifted people in our world who can read items, charachters, and other things straight out of the pages of books. The only tradeoff is that something from our world has to go into the book being read out of. One night, Mo reads the book Inkheart aloud, and the main villian, Capricorn, and his henchmen come out of the book, as well as a fire dancer named Dustfinger. Mo’s wife goes into the book, and so now on the run from Capricorn, Mo is desperately try to find a copy of Inkheart to read his wife back out of the book, while trying to keep his daughter Meggie safe.
The movie, which I have been eagerly anticipating ever since it was announced about 3-4 years ago, follows the same plotline as best as it can with changing few details here and there as most novel-to-movie-transitions do.
Brenden Fraiser is cast as Mo, and he pretty much fills the same role he usually does in his movies. Eliza Bennet, a new comer actress plays Meggie, the daughter of Mo. Then we have the amazing Andy Serkis (of Gollum fame) fill the sinister role of Capricorn, and then Helen Mirren playing the role of Elinor, the quirky and somewhat crazy great-aunt of Meggie. Paul Bettany also steps up in a wonderful performance as Dustfinger, the fire dancer.
The visual styles of Inkheart are simply amazing. The movie was filmed in various parts of Italy and the Swiss alps, and has many diffrent breathtaking vistas throughout. The music by one Javier Navvarette (he also did a little movie called Pan’s Labryinth) creates a sweeping addition to the movie, and the whole thing is really just magical.
All of the performances are spot on, (although perhaps Helen Mirren’s and Brenden Fraiser are starting to replay their roles across movies) the plot works and doesn’t try to water down the story for the sake of Hollywood, and all in all it’s just a fantastic movie to see from beginning to end.
But, ah, the end. If you’re read the novel, you’ll know that they *spoiler ahead* basically screwed over the attempts for a sequel by Mo sending back Dustfinger, and changing a few things in the ending. This is probably the only complaint I have about the entire thing, and even that is very minimal.
I give this a solid:
9.5/10
