Inkheart

Review by Jason Donner

 

There should be a simple rule when anyone constructs a fantasy epic like Inkheart: At least make it seem like something is happening.  This is a movie in which the characters and story seems rather unconcerned with the "danger" that they are in and, when they don't care, why should we who are watching care for them?

Inkheart is about a "silvertounge" played by Brendan Fraiser who has the power to make characters from books come to life simply by reading them out loud.  The trouble is, when someone comes out of a book, someone from the real world goes in and, when he looses his wife into a book called Inkheart, he and his daughter go on an adventure to find another copy to return everything to normal.  The only problem is, the bad guy from Inkheart is now in the real world and doesn't want to go home!

This movie is butt-numblingly boring with an story that does nothing with its delicious premise, actors there for nothing but a paycheck, and characters that are two-dimensional, unconvincing, and dumb as a brick.

Inkheart is the kind of movie that one might have difficulty staying awake in and is probably the most boring fantasy film I have ever witnessed.  It's got a heavy-handed reliance on the idea that books are magical so much that it feels like an after school special or one of those films the teacher made you watch in grade school when she was behind on grading.

Lackluster and dull, Inkheart is a dud through and through.  A high-concept but low execution clunker that suffers from heavy-handed direction, a lack of concern from the cast, and a climax that crashes and burns in mediocrity.

That, and when the title rhymes with "Stinkfart," it doesn't help.