Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Jim Carrey makes a four-course meal of the Tim-Burton-esque surreal scenery in this adaptation of the first three titles in Lemony Snicket's (i.e., Daniel Handler) popular, darkly humorous children's book series, completely overshadowing the story about three crafty young orphans stuck in a cycle of lethal luck with a string of eccentric guardians. As the inheritance-coveting Count Olaf, who is the first to mind the kids (and virtually enslave them) after their parents' suspicious death, Carrey camps and vamps, huffs and puffs, cackles and clowns, sucking up all the air in the room. Made up to look like a storybook villain, with a ski-jump nose, a theatrically receding hairline and a wardrobe that's half Edwardian-inspired hand-me-downs and half Lenny Kravitz, his plan is to get rich by having the children fall victim to a series of failed "accidents." The fact that these kids continually outwit Olaf is a source of delight in the books, but their optimism and innovation are little more than an underdeveloped plot conduit here. In fact, the ostensible central characters are underwritten and never given the chance to act, but only react--and then only when Carrey stops to take a breath. Optional. [Note: Available in either a two-disc widescreen version or single-disc widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras on this double-disc set include two audio commentaries (one by director Brad Silberling; the other by Silberling and the real Lemony Snicket [a.k.a. author Daniel Handler]), five “A Terrible Tragedy” making-of featurettes (105 min. total), four special effects featurettes (41 min.), two sound featurettes (30 min.), a “Bad Beginnings” section that includes “Building a Bad Actor” about star Jim Carrey (13 min.), “Making the Baudelaire Children Miserable” about the children in the film (3 min.), and “Interactive Olaf,” on the different characters Carrey plays. Other extras include deleted scenes (15 min.), outtakes (15 min.), three still galleries, and Easter eggs. Bottom line: an excellent extras package for one of 2004's most distinctive looking films.] (R. Blackwelder)