Review of Inkheart (2008) by Sandra V — 04 May 2014

A family friendly fantasy adventure that improves on the novel's mundane setting and constant to-ing and fro-ing. The story is much tighter and one event leads logically to the next with all the unnecessary details cut out.

Dustfinger as played by Paul Bettany is much more appealing and sympathetic than the whiny bastard of the book and the climax is also more spectacular and realised in a coherent structure that makes Meggie truly heroic.

The novel sort of petered out because the author wanted to write more books, but luckily the film ends on a satisfying high. Helen Mirren is also great fun as a much more feisty and not as useless Aunt Eleanor.

The use of CGI is kept to a minimum, but is suitably fantastic and Andy Serkis and the actors playing his henchmen also do a lot to make the flat Capricorn and villains on the page come to life.