Mortimer Folchart (Brendan Fraser) has a secret: he's a Silvertongue. And whenever a Silvertongue reads aloud from a book, he (or she) causes some of the story's characters to be swept off of the page and into the real world. That might be pretty cool... if a living, breathing person wasn't also sucked into the novel at the same time to balance things out a bit.
Mo discovered his unique talent the hard way when reading the novel "Inkheart" to his three-year-old daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett) before bedtime nine years ago. Some of the tale's nastiest villains -- like the power-hungry Capricorn (Andy Serkis, aka Gollum) and his knife-wielding servant Basta (Jamie Foreman) -- sprang to life, along with flame-throwing entertainer Dustfinger (Paul Bettany) and his pet marten Gwin. Unfortunately for the Folcharts, Mo's wife Resa then disappeared into the book, never to be seen again.
Now it's nine years later, and Meggie has no memory of what happened to her dear old mum. However, Mo's been searching for other copies of "Inkheart" and trying to read his wife out of its universe ever since, though he's kept his Silvertongue ways from his daughter. But we all know that attempting to hide big juicy secrets from suspicious pre-teens seldom works for the long haul -- at least not in the movies... especially when a fictional-turned-real character like Dustfinger shows up and blows Mo's cover. It turns out that Capricorn wants to find the man who brought him out of the book because he's looking to spring the novel's really scary monster, The Shadow, from its two-dimensional prison.
There are a few twists and turns as Mo and his daughter try to reunite with Resa, fight off the dastardly Capricorn and his goons and decide whether or not they can really trust Dustfinger. Accompanied part of the way by Meggie's feisty Great Aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren), the Folcharts run around the Italian countryside as they seek assistance from the author of "Inkheart," Fenoglio (Jim Broadbent) to help set everything right. The scenery is gorgeous -- there are striking villas, beautiful beaches, rolling mountains, and quaint cobblestone villages, but unfortunately a lot of the action sequences clearly take place on pretty generic, not-so-subtle movie sets, and the special effects are lacking. Younger viewers probably won't mind or notice, but adults may find it hard to suspend disbelief during those scenes. If they're still awake, that is...
... Which leads to my biggest issue with Inkheart: its pacing. After watching its trailer when the movie was in theaters, I knew the overall plot would be up my alley, but I guess I was expecting more adventure and suspense -- something like The NeverEnding Story or The Princess Bride. Instead, the characters did a lot of driving around, sneaking around, making plans and traveling from place to place and it just killed any sense of momentum or urgency in the story. Further, the most interesting question presented by the film -- "Would you want to know how your own story ends?" -- is posed but then never explored to any satisfying extent. At least Brendan Fraser didn't distract me with his usually bad acting; I had no problem whatsoever with him in this movie. In fact, the cast is the film's strength, with Bettany and Serkis being the standouts.
Any kids who've read Cornelia Funke's best-selling novel upon which this movie is based will want to see Inkheart no matter what, and they'll probably enjoy it. But it just didn't capture my imagination or hold my attention like I thought it would, and so I can't recommend this one to other fantasy fans out there -- you'd be better off with Prince Caspian or City of Ember.
Good Movie could have been more interesting with the plot
Posted by: Anna | June 29, 2009 at 11:50 PM