Inkheart

A good writer can make characters ‘jump off the page’. Mortimer Folchart, however, is a good reader. By reading aloud, he can make characters appear in flesh and blood from their prisons of paper and ink. But even his spellbinding voice cannot protect him from the dangers of this ability. For every fictional character that escapes from their story, someone from the real world disappears into the same one. And once loosed, there’s no telling what havoc these literary creations can wreak.

From New Line Cinema and director Iain Softley (The Skeleton Key) comes Inkheart. Based on the bestselling children’s book by German author Cornelia Funke, the movie follows Mo (Brendan Fraser) and his teenage daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett) on their quest to retrieve the book that will solve their problems - a rare volume called Inkheart. Nine years previously, on an evening when Mo had been reading aloud from Inkheart to his wife Resa (Sienna Guillory) and Meggie, the magical power of his voice took hold. The villain Capricorn (Andy Serkis) and the fire-eater Dustfinger materialized from the book, and Resa vanished into it. As the movie begins, Dustfinger rediscovers Mo after years of searching and demands to be read back into Inkheart. Mo refuses, afraid to read aloud after his wife's disappearance, and a desperate Dustfinger makes a deal with Capricorn, who has settled in the mountains of Italy. In exchange for Mo’s location – intending to kidnap him for the power of his voice – Capricorn agrees to force Mo into sending Dustfinger back. However, he breaks his promise, and the angry, homesick fire-eater switches sides once more.

During Mo’s quest to send these displaced characters back into their story, Dustfinger continues to hover on the sidelines, switching allegiances as it suits him. This makes him the story’s deepest and most compelling character. Where Mo is the hero and Meggie the apprentice, Capricorn the villain and Resa the damsel in distress, Dustfinger defies common stereotypes and draws the audience in with his enigmatic and sometimes volatile mien. When it looks as though Mo and Meggie may get the happy ending they seek, Dustfinger’s future is not so certain. He viciously combats his fate with no assurance of victory, a situation with which many viewers can sympathize.

At its core, Inkheart is a fairy tale. Set among jagged mountain peaks, the set is whimsically endowed with thick woods and a foggy coastline. Also, several well-known characters from children’s literature are conjured from their books at various points, including Rapunzel and Toto the dog. These lighthearted qualities are juxtaposed with the ugly reality of Capricorn’s concrete stronghold, where the atmosphere echoes the Nazi occupation of Italy. Also similar to a fairy tale is the dialogue between characters, which is simplistic and only occasionally humorous. The acting is for the most part average and veers toward the stereotypical, with the exception of Paul Bettany’s masterfully turbulent portrayal of Dustfinger. Rated PG for fantasy adventure action, a few scary moments and some brief language, it is nevertheless an excellent kids’ movie. Though not a blockbuster, Inkheart provides a few hours of engaging fun, as well as the classic enchantment of a fairy tale and enough excitement to keep its audience watching.

(Review for my English course. I went slightly over the word count as it was, but I would have liked to discuss Inkheart's merits as a book-to-movie adaptation. Perhaps that's another essay.)