So The Artist had been reminding us fairly frequently before the holidays that we had the Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events DVD from Netflix waiting to be watched--and he was ready to do so. The hold up was due to our totally unfair parental rules of not wanting The Captain to watch the movie with the two older boys as we thought it was a bit dark for The Captain's young and good mind. As a result, we had yet to find the time when the older boys could watch it. But alas that finally happened on New Years Day.After they finished watching it, I asked The Artist what he thought and he gave me an unconvincing "okay." When I pushed a bit about whether there was something he didn't like, or did he like the books better, or what, he said:
"Well, the books are called A Series of Unfortunate Events and so nothing really good happens--and it is just that the movie changed it around so there were happy endings and that would have never happened in the books."
Clever boy. Apparently only young children who read books can handle this reality.
Sharp observation. When my youngest (who is now 22!) and I saw it in the theaters, his point was that the wordplay of the books really couldn't be done on screen. Also a good point. And yet I rather adored that movie, because I thought Jim Carrey made a fantastic Count Olaf. And I thought all the children were splendid. So in this case, I think we can have our cake and eat it too. After all, the books had to end happily enough that there could be a sequel...and another sequel...and another...
ReplyDeleteFair enough--and while I didn't watch the whole thing it seemed wonderfully filmed, and agree on the kids.
ReplyDeleteMason isn't so much in agreement about the ending happy enough. His take is more that they survive to live another day (of bad luck Mason says), but it isn't a happy ending. More clever observations!