Review of Inkheart (2008) by Mark K — 13 Jul 2010

The movie was solidly panned when it came out, so I didn't see it in the theater, as it sank quickly out of sight from the local movie houses. The movie left me underwhelmed. I don't think it was as bad as portrayed, and the cast did pretty well with the material. I think part of the problem was that there was no central character to focus our hopes and fears on. Meggie's actress was all right, but she couldn't carry the film, and instead Iain Softley had to rely on a big ensemble cast to tell the story. Since the action takes place all in a short space of time, we have no opportunity to grow to like the characters, and see them in action at different times (except through some weak flashbacks). In fact, you're somewhat dropped into the middle of the story, and try to run along with the characters. While this worked in Funke's novel, it's not always the best for a fantasy story. You need more mythology to give people a basis of understanding.

Overall, the look of the film was nice, and the actors did fairly well considering the adaptation was questionable. maybe there were just too many peripheral characters. It's not at all like HP, where you have a few key characters and the supporting cast makes up their world. The narrative is easy to drive forward in that structure.

It had some enjoyable moments, and its too bad that it did poorly, as the second and third books would have made better movies.