Brendan Fraser (Journey to the Center of the Earth) stars as Mo Folchart, a person who, as a Silvertongue, is able to make fictional people and things real by reading aloud. He learns of the consequences of this power, when he loses his wife, Resa (Sienna Guillory; Eragon), into the pages of a book called Inkheart. He accidentally releases one of the villains of the book, Capricorn (Andy Serkis; Lord of the Rings trilogy), and a morally ambiguous fire-eater named Dustfinger (Paul Bettany; The Da Vinci Code). Years have passed, with Mo trying to find another copy of the hard-to-find Inkheart while raising their daughter, Meggie.
A revelation occurs early in the film, making the race to release Resa from the book ultimately pointless. The reveal is subtle enough that children and some adults may miss it, making the story hard to understand. Fraser gives a lifeless performance as the bereaved husband, emotionally absent father, and incompetent adventurer. Few of the supporting characters are given any time to develop personalities or motivations. Most criminally is the underuse of a chronically depressed Dustfinger, who mopes around the story contributing very little except the occasional, telegraphed betrayal. With the ability to create and control fire, you would think a better, more exciting use could be found for his powers than is found here.
The critically-acclaimed Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent were somehow drafted into appearing in this disastrous film; both trying to create an inkling of an interesting character or angle in an otherwise cheap fantasy film. From the very beginning, Inkheart is not grounded in any sense of reality before introducing the supernatural. Everything afterwards, therefore, looks kind of silly. Flying monkeys, minotaurs, and Toto are all wasted in a movie that will likely even bore the children it was almost exclusively intended for.
Rated PG for fantasy adventure action, some scary moments and brief language.
