Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 film, directed by Brad Silberling. It is based on the first three books in Lemony Snicket's popular series of children's novels: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window.

The film follows the adventures of three newly orphaned children (played by Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, and Kara & Shelby Hoffman) who try to escape from the deranged Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) in a series of different adventures. Co-stars include Jude Law as Lemony Snicket, Timothy Spall as Mr. Poe, Billy Connolly as Uncle Monty, Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine, and Cedric the Entertainer as the Constable.

The film takes place in a highly stylized, highly anachronized version of the United States (the letter that Violet is reading near the end has a Boston address). As in the books, exactly where and when the story takes place is unclear, and there are many mixed messages. The movie has been praised for its creative sets and costumes, all of which have a dark, gothic feel, leading to a highly unusual and creative visual motif.

Taglines:

On December 17, Christmas cheer takes a holiday
Mishaps, Mayhem, Misadventures, Oh Joy.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
This Holiday, Christmas Cheer takes a break.
At last a holiday movie without all that pesky hope and joy.
We're very concerned.

Home video release

The DVD (widescreen and fullscreen versions) and VHS video were released on 26 April 2005. There is also a two-disc widescreen DVD Special Edition. The standard DVD package contains a single disc; however, Circuit City included a second disc with further behind-the-scenes footage and original trailers within "specially marked packages," but this "Circuit City Bonus Disc" only contains a fraction of the further bonus material that is found within the widescreen Special Edition package.

The Lemony Snicket DVD sold by Target also comes with The Blank Book, a small diary. The DVD edition sold at Wal-Mart included a copy of The Bad Beginning.

Story

The film is narrated by Lemony Snicket (played here by Jude Law as opposed to the "real" Snicket, i.e. Daniel Handler), who occasionally appears in silhouette, writing the story on a typewriter in what appears to be the interior of a clock tower.

Inventive Violet Baudelaire and her siblings, intelligent Klaus and sharp-toothed baby Sunny, are orphaned by a mysterious fire that destroys their parents' mansion.

They are then placed in the care of bank manager Mr. Poe, who entrusts them to their "closest relative" - however, misinterpreting the phrase, Mr. Poe chooses the relative who lives the shortest distance away, the obnoxious Count Olaf. Olaf promises to take care of the orphans "as if they were actually wanted" but in fact he is only interested in the huge fortune that Violet will inherit as soon as she turns 18. In the meantime he treats them like slaves. In a controversial scene, Olaf slaps Klaus hard for daring to talk back to him.

Eventually, after a failed attempt by Olaf to murder them for the money, the children are returned to Mr. Poe's care and sent to live with their Uncle Monty, a cheerfully eccentric herpetologist with a well-stocked reptile room, who is planning a trip to Peru. Unfortunately their idyllic sojourn with Monty is cut short when Olaf turns up in disguise, pretending to be a replacement for Monty's assistant. The Baudelaires see through the disguise instantly and manage to warn Monty, but too late to prevent Olaf from murdering him.

The Baudelaires are forced to move on again, this time to the shores of Lake Lachrymose, where their Aunt Josephine, who seems to have a phobia of almost everything, lives in a house precariously perched on the edge of a cliff, with a wide window overlooking the lake. The house seems to contain clues to the cause of the fire that killed their parents, but before they can discover more, Olaf turns up again, disguised as a sailor, and courts Josephine.

Later on, the orphans discover that Josephine has gone. She has left what looks like a suicide note, but which is actually a coded message telling them that she is hiding in a cave on the lakeshore. Before they can follow, the Baudelaires have a narrow escape from the house when it is torn apart by a hurricane. They eventually find Josephine, and attempt to take her to safety, but Olaf finds them first, takes the Baudelaires and leaves Josephine at the mercy of the deadly Lachrymose Leeches.

Back at Olaf's home, he concocts another scheme that involves staging a play starring himself and Violet. In the play, his character will marry Violet's character, but in such a way that the marriage will actually be legal, giving him access to her money. To ensure Violet's cooperation he holds Sunny hostage. While the play is in progress before an invited audience, Klaus attempts to rescue Sunny. In doing so, he also discovers a device (an eye shaped mirror) which seems to have been the cause of the original fire.

Olaf's plan is thwarted at the last minute when Klaus uses the eye to burn the marriage certificate. Count Olaf is sentenced to suffer everything the Baudelaire's went through and then spend his life in behind bars, but he is released from prison by his minions, and the children are left to ponder the future.

Like the original books, the movie contains various clues to the mystery of the Baudelaire parents' deaths. For instance, the children discover that all of their relatives seemed to own spyglasses, and acquire one themselves at the end. Count Olaf has an eye-shaped tattoo on his ankle, and Aunt Josephine's wide window is also eye-shaped. The mysterious initials "V.F.D." can also be spotted at at least one point.

There are quite a few differences between the books and the film. Many of the changes involve some dark content being toned down. An example of this is the ending of The Wide Window. In the movie, Olaf merely leaves Aunt Josephine alone to fend for herself on a sinking boat. The book's ending is much more sinister; Olaf pushes Josephine into the water, and the torn remnants of her lifejacket are later discovered.

The film makers also added to (and, in some opinions, convoluted) the "V.F.D." mystery by adding a spyglass that the members possess. So far, Lemony Snicket has never incorporated such a device into his plot.

A small part was added to the movie in the scene when Olaf tries to kill the Baudelaires by stopping his car on the rail track, locking them inside, and waiting for the train to come. Luckily, the orphans escape by using one of Violet's inventions to flip the railroad switch just as Mr. Poe arrives.

Another big change to the source materials is making Count Olaf responsible for the Baudelaire fire via a giant eye shaped mirror. It has been implied slightly that Olaf had a hand in it (he is a noted arsonist) but has never been explicitly revealed.

Box Office

The film became a moderate hit at the box office during the 2004 holiday season, eventually earning over $100 million in North America.

Sequel

There are constant rumors of a sequel, but none of these have ever materialized. Emily Browning is contracted for a sequel movie -- assuming that the project comes to fruition.

However, a petition for a sequel is at Lemony Snicket Sequel When enough signatures have been collected the petition will be sent to the filmmakers, Paramount Pictures, and DreamWorks.

Trivia

The title "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" is not in the main title sequence. Instead, it is a computer-animated cartoon (made to look like Stop motion) titled "The Littlest Elf" and after about thirty seconds, the scene abruptly stops. Snicket then begins setting up the story (repeatedly urging the audience that they have the opportunity to leave the theater, living room, or airplane where the film is being shown). "The Littlest Elf" is mentioned several times as being a book within the series of books.
The end titles give no credit to end-title-director Jamie Caliri or his crew.
The movie employed several sites for viral marketing: CountOlaf.com, WhiteFaceWomen.com, and HookHandMan.com. The latter two have since been taken down.
While waiting for the Baudelaires to die on the train tracks, Count Olaf loiters in the Last Chance Superette, similar to the Last Chance General Store which appears in Book the Eighth, The Hostile Hospital. When we first see Olaf inside the store, a man in the background can be seen reading a newspaper called the Daily Punctilio. This newspaper made its debut in The Vile Village, and appeared in subsequent episodes.
In the scene in the Baudalaire's gutted mansion, where Klaus picks up a spyglass, the letters V.F.D can be seen on a box within the desk. These letters form an important plot point within the novels. This very box is shown containing what looks like Verdant Flammable Devices, mentioned in the 10th book, The Slippery Slope.
Count Olaf's car is a 1960 Imperial Crown Limousine, with an extended vinyl roof cap. Jackie Kennedy also owned one.
Mr Poe's car is a Tatra T603.
In the books, the play scene where Count Olaf tries to marry Violet is in The Bad Beginning, while in the movie, it is after the plot of The Wide Window.
In 2005, Viacom, the parent company of US distributor Paramount Pictures, purchased international distributor DreamWorks, selling the live action library (including ...Unfortunate Events) a few months later to a George Soros-led group a few months later. Paramount will retain distribution rights to these films, and therefore, now controls the worldwide rights to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Tim Burton was attached to direct this movie with Johnny Depp playing Count Olaf, when Tim left, Johnny left
Many fans are desperate for a sequel and are signing a petiton over here which will be sent to Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks and other people who were involved in the making of the first film.
One of three Jude Law films to be released by Paramount Pictures in 2004, along with the 2004 remake of Alfie and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

Reaction

The movie garnered a mostly positive reaction from critics, earning a 71% score at the popular critic review site, rottentomatoes.com. Most negative criticism concerned Jim Carrey's portrayal of Count Olaf, claiming that he made the villain more interesting than the heroes. Another criticism concerned the inclusion of the AFLAC Duck in a scene of the movie (when the Baudelaires where at Lachrymose), which came across as a shameless marketing ploy.

However, much praise was put on the child actors, especially Australian actress Emily Browning; Jim Carrey said, "...Emily is just going to break a million hearts". Billy Connolly and Meryl Streep also received praise for their portrayals of Dr. Montgomery Montgomery and Aunt Josephine, respectively. The movie was also critically acclaimed for its artwork, for which it was nominated for an Academy Award. The movie won one for the make-up.

Another criticism is the "toning down" of the film. The original film was much darker and more faithful to the source material but was edited to make it more appealing for younger children. Some examples of scenes removed from the book include Olaf threatening to chop off one of Sunny's toes from The Reptile Room and Olaf pushing Aunt Josephine off a boat into the leech-infested lake in The Wide Window. (In the film version, Olaf merely leaves her to die on the sinking boat.)

There were many complaints by the fans about severe disloyalty to the novels. Jim Carrey is was regarded to not be as menacing as the Olaf they anticipated, and felt that they tried too hard to make the movie a comedy.

However, many fans are looking forward to the sequel and are all going hereto help bring the sequel to our big screens ASAP.

The film won an Academy Award for Makeup and was nominated for the awards for Original Music Score, Costume Design, and Art Direction.

Cast

Role	Actor
Count Olaf	Jim Carrey
Violet Baudelaire	Emily Browning
Klaus Baudelaire	Liam Aiken
Sunny Baudelaire	Kara Hoffman Shelby Hoffman
Lemony Snicket (voice)	Jude Law
Uncle Monty	Billy Connolly
Aunt Josephine	Meryl Streep
Mr Poe	Timothy Spall
Hook-Handed Man	Jamie Harris
Bald Man	Luis Guzmán
White Faced Women	Jennifer Coolidge Jane Adams
Person of Indeterminate Gender	Craig Ferguson
Justice Strauss	Catherine O'Hara
Detective	Cedric the Entertainer
Wedding Guest	Rosemary Garris
AFLAC Duck (voice)	Gilbert Gottfried
Police Photographer	Alan Heitz
Ferry boat captain	Michael Earl Lane
Mrs Poe	Deborah Theaker
Critic (uncredited)	Dustin Hoffman

External links

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events Sequel
Official Site
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events at Jim Carrey Online

Lemony Snicket – Rätselhafte Ereignisse | Les Désastreuses Aventures des orphelins Baudelaire (film) | Lemony Snicket - Una serie di sfortunati eventi | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | レモニー・スニケットの世にも不幸せな物語 | Lemony Snicket: Seria niefortunnych zdarzeń | Lemony Snicketin surkeiden sattumuksien sarja | Lemony Snickets berättelse om syskonen Baudelaires olycksaliga liv

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