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Movies / On DVD / Inkheart
Inkheart

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Inkheart (2009)

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Reviews Counted:132

Fresh:52

Rotten:80

Average Rating:5.1/10

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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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A kids' adventure movie can be a lot of things -- wild and woolly, loosey-goosey, full of foolishness -- but they should never be shabby. And that's the best word for Inkheart.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
01/22/09
Joe Neumaier
Joe Neumaier
New York Daily News

Inkheart may not be rotten to the core -- instead of maggots, the fantasy adventure seethes with good intentions -- but the overripeness of its special effects can't be overstated.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
01/22/09
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal

Much is made of the magic of literature in Inkheart, but the joys of losing yourself in reading are undermined by the movie's barrage of special effects and a convoluted plot.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
01/22/09
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

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.

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
01/22/09
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze

A brisk and engaging adventure for kids who love books as well as for those who don't.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
01/22/09
Tom Keogh
Tom Keogh
Seattle Times

Inkheart was shot in and around Liguria on the Italian Riviera, and it looks absolutely ravishing. But the most resonant and, frankly, wonderful aspect of the film is its unabashed love for books and the wonders to be found within.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/22/09
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

The story is a whirl, a jumble, an effusion -- sometimes flowing smoothly, other times jerking along as if the filmmaker has been given advice he resents regarding pacing and the balance of sweetness and danger.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
01/22/09
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Take some bits from "Harry Potter" and "Arabian Nights," loads from "The Wizard of Oz" and mix with an original story that we never even get to hear and you get the torturously tedious "Inkheart."

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
01/22/09
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

there is nothing that resembles fun anywhere. No sense of emotional involvement by anyone on screen, and certainly no breathtaking and/or lurking sense of doom

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/22/09
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

We leave doubly convinced that words are better left squat, inert, and black on the page

Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | comment Comment
01/22/09
Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson
I.E. Weekly

Inkheart won't make people forget Princess Bride, but it may give them pleasant flashbacks while it rollicks through its own bookish adventures.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
01/22/09
Tasha Robinson
Tasha Robinson
AV Club

The finished product teases, but does not fulfill, with what could have been. Having seen Inkheart only days ago, its details have already begun to fade from memory. Great literature and cinema is not this easily forgotten.

Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
01/22/09
Dustin Putman
Dustin Putman
DustinPutman.com

[U]nquestionably for children, but unlike many children's movies, it does not assume kids are stupid or will respond only to toilet humor or slapstick...

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/22/09
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Similar to the movie adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (Knopf, 1996), the filmmakers shoehorn most of the book's plot into a small amount of time, leaving little room for character development or nuanced acting.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
01/22/09
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

Inkheart feels as though it has been pulled apart and put back together several times over, leading to a viewing experience that's equal parts bewilderment and tedium.

Full Review Source: BrianOrndorf.com | comment Comment
01/22/09
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com

Entertaining enough for young teens, but a little more thought could have made it appealing to adults as well.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
01/22/09
Rafer Guzman
Rafer Guzman
Newsday

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
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Inkheart is entertaining enough, if not always easy to follow. And if it does nothing else, at least it may inspire kids to read, if for no other reason than to help make sense of it all.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
01/22/09
Bill Goodykoontz
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic

A literary fantasy with a charm deficit.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
01/22/09
Bill Weber
Bill Weber
Slant Magazine

A visually overstuffed but emotionally undernourished piece of whimsy...yet another big, overblown fantasy movie that never takes flight.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
01/22/09
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
all

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...

See All

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