Inkheart

It seemed like for a while there Brendan Fraser didn't get a whole lot to do. He was a pretty big star and then he just faded away. Of course while he was gone I don't think a single person said "Damn I miss Brendan Fraser." But if anyone did they must have been in heaven this past while because we were treated to not just one, not even just two...but three Brendan Fraser adventures in like 6 months.

First we had Journey to the Centre of the Earth whose only redeeming quality was that it was smart enough to put itself in 3D. Otherwise it would have been almost unwatchable. Then we got The Mummy Curse of the Dragon Emperor, a movie that somehow managed to take yeti's, Jet Li, three-headed dragons, and Jet Li as a three-headed dragon...and make a terrible movie with them. I didn't even know that could be done!!! I read in a textbook that those elements combine to make the ultimate equation of success and awesomeness.

Now to round out this Brendan Fraser resurgence, we have Inkheart. I'm pretty sure it's based on a series of books but I'm honestly too lazy to even open another browser window to go and check that one. Someone will tell me in the comments section if it is. The trailers for this movie did nothing for me and to be honest, neither did the movie. I do think it was the best of the ones I've mentioned here already, but it's still a very mediocre movie.

First off I just couldn't get into the whole premise of reading the book aloud and it coming true. It just seemed...silly. Plus what is to stop you from writing "I fell in a bucket of gold and then had sex with 20 mermaids" on a piece of paper, reading it, and becoming the happiest man alive? Maybe that was explained at some point, I occasionally would blank out.

The movie was a lot slower than I thought it would be too. I think I was expecting another Brendan Fraser goofy over the top stupid adventure romp. I believe some of the TV spots played up that angle a bit more too. However the movie itself is more focused on the characters and the story. That's rarely a bad thing, but here I just wasn't invested in any of that. There is some action in there, and the last bit of the movie is actually pretty cool, but I actually found the whole thing a little dull.

It's not a bad movie, and I think a lot of the problem is that I was expecting something different. Maybe a second viewing would help, but that will never exist so I guess we'll never know for sure. It's the best of the recent Fraser stuff though, and for a kid's movie it has the balls to never talk down to them, which I always welcome. Overall though, it was very middle of the road, just barely making it above average.

5.5/10