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Movies / On DVD / Inkheart
Inkheart

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Inkheart (2009)

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Reviews Counted:11

Fresh:6

Rotten:5

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Heavy on cliches and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn't quite get off the ground.

Rated: PG

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Theatrical Release:12-12-2008

Synopsis: Cornelia Funke’s best-selling novel, INKHEART, comes to life in director Iain Softley’s (THE SKELETON KEY, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) feature-film adaptation of the same name. For 12 years, bookbinder... Cornelia Funke’s best-selling novel, INKHEART, comes to life in director Iain Softley’s (THE SKELETON KEY, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) feature-film adaptation of the same name. For 12 years, bookbinder Mo (Brendan Fraser) and his daughter, Meggie (Eliza Hope Bennett), have been traveling the world, poking around secondhand bookstores. Meggie correctly assumes that her father is looking for her mother, Resa (Sienna Guillory), who disappeared without a trace. What Meggie doesn’t know is that Mo is a Silvertongue, and when he reads a story aloud, the details and characters come to vivid life. But when a character comes out of a book, someone has to go back in, and Mo is searching a copy of the book, titled "Inkheart," into which Resa literally disappeared. When Mo read the story aloud, unaware of his powers, she was sucked into the story, and the fantastical novel’s villainous characters were released. Now, Mo and Meggie have to keep evil Capricorn and his henchmen from realizing their diabolical plot, and send everyone back where they belong. INKHEART is awash with colorful details. Capricorn has had to make do with a stuttering Silvertongue who delivers characters that are half-read: text from the book is tattooed on their faces, or they suffer some other malady, emerging from the book mute or with an odd physical feature. Paul Bettany is engaging as Dustfinger, a character who desperately wants to be read back into "Inkheart" and return to his family, portrayed by Bettany’s real-life love, Jennifer Connelly, in a miss-her-if-you-blink performance. Helen Mirren is good fun as eccentric, feisty bibliophile Aunt Elinor, and Jim Broadbent appears as the novel’s author, who is enthralled by the possibilities of Mo’s gift. [More]

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, Eliza Hope Bennett, Rafi Gavron

Director: Iain Softley

Director: Iain Softley
Screenwriter: David Lindsay-Abaire
Producer: Iain Softley, Diana Pokorny, Cornelia Funke
Composer: Javier Navarrete
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Reviews for Inkheart

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1 - 11 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Magical, if messy — this gets by on a good heart, high adventure and an unashamed love for books.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/12/08
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It’s a familiar tale, but one told with gusto, wit and visual flare.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
12/12/08
David Jenkins
David Jenkins
Time Out
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A convoluted story but otherwise this is solid fantasy fare, nicely performed and handsomely made.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
12/12/08
Daniel Etherington
Daniel Etherington
Channel 4 Film
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Inkheart shows why books are wonderful yet dangerous places; how a well-told story unlocks the imagination; and how words unleash the most unpredictable emotions.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
12/12/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
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CGI fantasy adventures in the post-Potter, young-adult, old-child mode are not quite my taste, but this one is likably boisterous, and Iain Softley directs with flair.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
12/12/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
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Inkheart is cheerful and amiable, and in the absence of a Harry Potter film this winter, it fills a gap neatly.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
12/12/08
David Gritten
David Gritten
Daily Telegraph
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A movie that can produce the image of Helen Mirren astride a unicorn has some claim on the audience's interest, and a movie that can make that image seem perfectly uninteresting is in some serious trouble.

comment Comment
01/23/09
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
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Inkheart is a valentine to books mainly by negative example -- the leaps of imagination it doesn't achieve.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment 1 Comment
01/22/09
Sheri Linden
Sheri Linden
Los Angeles Times
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No child seeing Inkheart will ever want to be read to again.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/22/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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Whatever made the German novel Inkheart by Cornelia Funke so popular that it got translated into 37 languages is nowhere in evidence in its film version.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
12/22/08
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
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A brisk, overstuffed adaptation of Cornelia Funke's international bestseller.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/11/08
Justin Chang
Justin Chang
Variety
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1 - 11 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Inkheart

January 30, 2009: Making a movie about the magic to be found in reading books, is a little like General Motors singing the praises of riding a bike instead. Opens in new window
More...

January 22, 2009: Critics Consensus: Inkheart Is Less Than Magical
This week at the movies, we've got living literature (Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser and Eliza Hope Bennett); political intrigue (Frost/Nixon, starring Michael Sheen and... More...

January 22, 2009: Box Office Guru Preview: Underworld Battles Oscar All-Stars
Only two new releases hit the North American box office, but in the wake of Academy Award nominations, a handful of contenders take the opportunity to expand nationwide hoping... More...

December 14, 2008: Warner Bros. Firms Up 2009 Schedule Opens in new window
From "Inkheart" to "Sherlock Holmes," the Warner Bros. slate for 2009 has been set, and ComingSoon has posted it for your perusal. More...

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