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If you know the story line then ignore this next couple of sentences but if you don’t carry on reading. Basically the story follows three young intelligent children whose parents have perished in a fire that destroyed their entire home. They bounce from relative to not really relatives trying to escape an evil man called Count Olaf who is after their massive fortune.
The books are actually for children which is odd considering how messed up the story line actually is, I mean *SPOILER* Count Olaf tries to marry one of the children who is only fourteen! Anyway as someone who has read the books I was sort of disappointed with the series itself. I loved Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, he portrays him perfectly in my eyes but they made it funny. I know that the story is so ridiculous that it should be funny but the books aren’t funny.
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Even though the narrator constantly tells you to stop reading which is supposed to sound serious but comes off as a joke clearly, it is a serious book. There are awful things that happen like murder, kidnapping, fraud and fires. I feel like the added sense of humor almost ruined it, I have to admit the humorous parts were funny but it make me like the movie more and the movie version isn’t even that good. Due to the funny bits there is no emotion coming from the story, you don’t feel the sadness of the children who have just lost their parents or the dread of what is going to happen to them next.
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The Violet, Klaus and Sunny casting was okay, I like that they actually cast children (Malina Weissman (13) and Louis Hynes (15) that were of similar age to the children in the books. In the movie both Klaus and Violet looked too old for their parts of being 12 and 14. However there is just something not right about them playing the parts they don’t seem as clever or witty as the children in the books. Oh and don’t get me started on their outfits, (Violet would never wear bright pink.)
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I however liked how accurate the plot for example *SPOILER* they added the scene from the third book when they went to the clown restaurant and ate the peppermints. I appreciated this so much because I hadn’t read the books in ages and it brought back so many good memories.
Overall even with the faults I can’t say I won’t continue to watch it because I want to carry on seeing my favourite books on screen. I just want for the TV series the only good part of the film version which was the emotion. The scene at the end of it where they find a letter from their parents (I know it’s not in the book) and you want to cry because of the beautiful music (The Letter That Never Came – Thomas Newman). Without it, the books doesn’t come to life because you don’t feel what the narrator feels which is sadness for the children. They both are almost a separate from each other.
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