'Inkheart' Movie Trailers and Reviews

Inkheart

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, Eliza Hope Bennett, Rafi Gavron, Sienna Guillory

Director: Iain Softley

Release Date: January 23rd, 2009
Release Date: 12th December, 2008

Studio: Warner Bros.

Synopsis: Mo has the special talent to bring characters out of books. One night he brings out three characters from Inkheart, a story set in medieval times and filled with magical beings. Capricorn and Basta, two villains, and Dustfinger, a fire-eater. Now, 10 years later Meggie discovers the truth and it’s up to her to escape Capricorn’s evil grasp.

Movie Trailers

Movie Links

Official ‘Inkheart’ Movie Website
‘Inkheart’ on IMDb

About the Movie

Inkheart is a 2008 fantasy film, directed by Iain Softley and stars Brendan Fraser, Eliza Bennett, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Andy Serkis and Jim Broadbent. It is based on the novel with the same name by Cornelia Funke. The film was first slated for release on 19 March 2008, but had been pushed back to 12 December 2008 in the UK and 23 January 2009 in the US, partially because of New Line’s marketing worries in connection with the now-concluded 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

Movie Reviews

Movie Review by Marty Meltz

Quality – 6 out of 10

Lotta detail. Little involvement. Fun to watch. So easy to forget.

In “Inkheart,” a wildly ambitious fairy tale fantasy, a lot of people move around among a lot of objects and things, threatening each other, victimizing, controlling and, each time they do that, we’re left with a shrug. Not that it hasn’t been neat to watch. This film is just bristling with flawlessly done special effects, endless and countless.

But we are bedecked here with supposedly magical characters who don’t radiate magic. Why not? Well, y’see, on screen, when fanciful persons and critters materialize out of nowhere, you kind of expect them to follow through with catchy personalities and fanciful things to do. Otherwise you walk away having seen simple demonstrations of visual effects. Pretty, but . . .

The film, understand, is aggressive. Its performances are more than energetic. Its villain is so very bad like you wouldn’t believe — besides threatening good and decent persons with perfectly awful punishments, his little army of baddies lethally threatens parenthood and burns books. What one does sense is missing in all this menace and mayhem, however, is a theme with something of substance a little more compelling than all of that. One recollects the “Lord of the Rings” series in which cosmic forces of untold power drew our heroes into confrontation. “Inkheart” doesn’t reach for those kind of stakes. Without that, its moment-to-moment conflicts crave momentum. And a search for a lost mommy isn’t a theme with the intrinsic energy to sustain you.

In this very bizarre fantasy, perhaps designed more for adults with its convoluted philosophy, we have bookbinder Mortimer “Mo” Folchart (Brendan Fraiser) who’s forever visiting now here, now there, all over the world, dragging along his nonappreciative daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett).

At the last home, there arrives an old mysterious acquaintance of Mo’s named Dustfinger (Paul Bettany). This event is to make a sudden change in Mo’s life with Meggie. Without explaining to her what’s happening, next morning Mo packs up and leaves with her.

They will stop at Meggie’s Great Aunt Eleanor’s (Helen Mirren). Dramatic events will now come together. It seems that 10 years ago Mo discovered within himself a strange gift in which, when he reads a book aloud, the characters come to life and actually leave the book. He’s known in the metaphysical world as a “silvertongue.” But the process then dictates that these characters must be replaced by “reading in” somebody else.

At that time, in a mishap he had read in a rare book called “Inkheart,” a thug character from long ago named Capricorn (Andy Serkis) had emerged. And Mo had inadvertently “read in” his own wife (Sienna Guillory). Now, some thugs arrive and kidnap Mo, so to bring him to Capricorn. Capricorn, a cruel man, now wants Mo to read out “The Shadow” an evil power which will aid Capricorn in his world conquest ambitions.

Meggie goes forth with Eleanor to Capricorn’s village to rescue him. Not so easy. As soon as they arrive, they’re adbucted themselves and locked up with Mo. It turns out that she too is a silvertongue. But there are two others who had come out of the book and the great heroics begin. Some are by Dustfinger who desperately wants to prove to the author of Inkheart (Jim Broadbent) that he’s better than his written character. Meantime, obviously, Mo and Meggie want mom back. This is all headed to an apocalypse-type finish.

Too much of the film’s plot elements were loosely handled. It just wants to be remembered for its monumentally sensational effects at the end.