Inkheart (2008)

Director: Iain Softley

Cast: Brendan Fraser as Mo 'Silvertongue' Folchart, Sienna Guillory as Resa, Eliza Bennett as Meggie Folchart (as Eliza Hope Bennett), Richard Strange as Antiquarian Bookshop Owner, Paul Bettany as Dustfinger, Helen Mirren as Elinor Loredan, Matt King as Cockerell, Steve Speirs as Flatnose, Jamie Foreman as Basta, Stephen Graham as Fulvio, Mirabel O'Keefe as Young Meggie, Andy Serkis as Capricorn, John Thomson as Darius, Lesley Sharp as Mortola, Tereza Srbova as Rapunzel

I must say that I am always pleasantly surprised to watch a film
without expectations, or the tiniest shred of knowledge, and be
completely immersed in its world. With the new fantasy adventure film
Inkheart, I experienced just that. Iain Softley's cinematic adaptation
of the best-selling novel by Cornelia Funke is a fun and endearing
trip. I liken the story to the Neverending Story only inverted. Rather
than a boy reading a book and transporting himself into it, the
characters here read the book and bring both the protagonists and
antagonists to them. There is of course one caveat, for whatever comes
through to Earth, something must go into the book to replace it. Said
replacement being our lead's wife shows that there will be a fight for
her return and the banishment of those brought over, back to the
written word.

A very short prologue-type moment helps orient the audience with the
magic that Inkheart brings. We learn that Brendan Fraser's Mortimer
Folchart is a "Silvertongue", or person who reads the written word and
brings it to reality. Unknown to him until he starts reading a story to
his daughter, (my one gripe is that he never found out earlier … with
the horrible things he lets in later, you'd have to think something
more than Red Riding Hood's cape would have come through in his past),
the danger of his power isn't felt completely until two villains and a
street performer from this obscure novel arrive, sending his wife Resa,
(Sienna Guillory in a role I wish would have let us see more of her),
into the abyss, trapped. The real story at hand begins nine years after
with Folchart and his daughter who doesn't know about that past event
and just believes her mother left them. Supposedly taught in boarding
schools on the go—why else would she have that accent—young Meggie,
played by Eliza Bennett, is an intelligent girl who follows her book
repairing father as he searches for a copy of the tale that took his
love away. It takes many years, but finally the copy is found; yet with
it comes the rediscovery of them by that trapped street performer,
Dustfinger, and the realization that Capricorn, the book's main
villain, wants Folchart captured to find him power and wealth by
reading aloud.

What I really enjoyed about the film is that the retrieval of Resa is
not the only thing it has going for it. Sure Folchart's motivations are
for that alone, but you also have the needs of those people that
replaced her. Dustfinger, the ever-brilliant Paul Bettany who owns each
and every scene he has here, is just a corrupted man by necessity, not
a true villain, only wanting to get back to the family he left behind.
This role is the most fleshed out and tragic, trying desperately to get
away from the reputation that precedes him from those who've read the
story yet unable to break free from the selfish coward he was written
as. However, nine years on Earth has changed him; his love and need for
his wife has made him into something more than a thief who wields fire
and as he says to the author of Inkheart, a fun Jim Broadbent, he
controls his own fate. Just the fact that he is out of the book proves
that the words written are not the only truth; he can overcome whatever
end awaits him on the closing pages of the novel.

But he isn't the only side character needing something. The other is
Capricorn, a vile man looking to take over Earth as his own. Brought to
life by Andy Serkis, the role exudes slime and nefarious doings,
showing the talent of this actor most known for playing computer
generated characters in Peter Jackson epics. Capricorn is a villain to
the end and his flip remarks and lack of compassion make for some
laughs as well as a worthy opponent to Fraser's manly man hero as he is
a professional now at playing. Fraser is probably the weakest link of
the film, but he does the part well and holds together those around him
as the common connecting factor.

Actually, everything really does end up being pretty well done across
the board. It's a fun story that may be predictable, but the characters
like Dustfinger are so well formed that you find yourself needing to
see how their arcs end up. Even the special effects are pretty to look
at, from the wispy clouds as fictional people come to our world to the
smoke monster Shadow that arrives later on. And I loved seeing some of
literature's best "creatures" in the flesh, held captive at Capricorn's
castle. Really, besides some shoddy bluescreen work of Helen Mirren on
a unicorn, there is very little to fault in those terms. Heck, the
movie even had a fantastic little inside joke for cinema/Hollywood fans
with a glimpse at Dustfinger's wife left alone back home. Maybe I
shouldn't have laughed when her face appeared on screen, but it was a
cute surprise.

So, whether the film stays true to the novel, I can't say. All I can
relate to filmgoers is that as a fan of family-friendly fantasy films,
Inkheart certainly surprised me with its likability and warmth. Maybe
not as successful as the classics, Princess Bride, or even 2007's
Stardust, Softley still delivers one worth a look. And while Bettany
and Serkis may steal the show, deservingly so, it's always nice to
watch Brendan Fraser in a part that doesn't scream paycheck. It appears
to be too few and far between lately, so I do sincerely hope this one
becomes a success at the box office.