Review of Inkheart (2008) by Dawdlingpoet — 27 Nov 2021

This is a fairly enjoyable kids/family friendly fantasy film, with some good visual effects (CGI). I quite liked the scenes with Helen Mirrens character, Elinor, as she is rather pompously over the top (that's not to say her acting is off, its more likely the script she was given, to be clear) and I did find that a little amusing, I admit. I also recognised John Thomson (of the TV series 'The Fast Show' fame) and of course Brendan Fraser, from the The Mummy films (not the more recent Tom Cruise version). I believe Stephen Graham is also in it (him of 'Line of Duty' and Shane Meadows 'The Virtues' TV series fame), plus Andy Serkis plays the villian. Anyway, back to the film. Its mildly engrossing I'd say but I wouldn't say it particularly stands out as an entirely memorable film as such. Near the start, there was a scene involving a young girl by a fire that immediately made me think of the film 'The Book Thief'.

I felt it had a slight bit of a pantomime feel to it - maybe it is a little over the top but I can imagine youngish kids may enjoy it never the less and its undoubtedly a film meant to appeal to younger audiences, so thats not a big issue I suppose. I enjoyed the plot concept - it reminded me of an episode of a TV series in the 90s called 'Eerie, Indiana' that featured a girl who makes drawings which come to life. It also made me think of the Adam Sandler film 'Bedtime Stories'. It did feel a little cliched and it has a naivety to it but its a fairly easy watch never the less and I think a younger audience would find it ok, hence my rating. I wouldn't expressly recommend this film as such but I wouldn't say its something to be entirely avoided either - if it comes on TV then it may be worth a watch but I wouldn't say its worth paying a large amount of money for, if that makes sense. I hope this helps as a review.