Hi guys,
This time I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to do a book and a movie review at the same time. Now I know what you are going to say right off, “Darcy, movies about books are seldom as good as the book itself.” Yeah that is usually true, but not this time. Trust me, you are going to like this.
The name of the book and movie is Inkheart.
From the book: One cruel night, Meggie’s father reads aloud from the book Inkheart; and a evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Somehow Meggie must learn to harness the magic that has conjured this nightmare. Only she can change the course of the story that has changed her life forever.
In the movie, Brandon Fraser plays the father; Mortimer. Who is a silvertongue, person who is able to bring stories and characters to life just by read the story aloud. A character comes into our world, but in exchange someone from our world has to go there. The problem starts when he reads the book and the evil character jumps out, and is replaced in the novel by Mortimer’s wife.
The movie, like the book; is all about how Mortimer is on a quest to retrieve his wife from the book, and at the same time; return all the monsters and villains he has mistakenly called forth into our world. The funny thing, and maybe my own problem with the story, is that it is never talked about of how other readers of Inkheart feel when they pick up the book only to see a lost mother running around in the place of the evil ruler they are used too. (She is a riot though in the movie, very funny parts.)
You can tell that this story had a lot of influences, like the Lord of the rings and even more so The Wizard of Oz. Most of the story takes place in a Italian castle that looks like both Mordor and the Emerald City. (That make your head hurt? Sorry, but best way to describe it.) J
Mortimer and his daughter are dragged there by the evil guy who wants to be put back into his book, even though he is doing much better in our world than his to be honest.
The best part of this movie and the story is the love for books that you can plainly see. Capricorn has trapped other characters from other children books, flying monkeys, a unicorn, and a huge crocodile with something ticking in it’s belly. Hehe. There is also, glass slippers, Scrooge’s grave stone, and a gingerbread house.
Also, in the movie; everyone is a reader. Mortimer’s aunt even gets into the act, calling some of the bad guys at one point, “You barbaric piece of pulp fiction!” Too funny.
Over all the movie was very close to the book itself, really not much different at all. It kept you on the edge of your seat a lot with the action, and you really get into the characters, even the evil ones had a reason for doing what they do.
Over all I can’t recommend both this book and the movie too much. They are just so much fun!
Did Mortimer and everyone reverse things? Did they make it back to our world you ask? Well……I well just say go read the book and see the movie. I will say this, the adventure continues on other books written by Cornella Funke. In fact the next one is out and is called Inkspell, along with a third called Inkdeath. (OOOOOO, that sounds interesting huh?)
All of her books are from Scholastic press, so go check them out. I promise you will have fun.
Darcy
Leave a comment