The big-screen adap of the popular kiddie-book series follows three moneyed orphans trying to avoid being bumped off by their dastardly Uncle Olaf (Jim Carrey). It has one sprightly foot in a pointy Potter shoe, while the other trudges along in a grimier Night Of The Hunter boot. The fantasy-Gothic source material is pure Tim Burton, but it's Brad Moonlight Mile Silberling who moulds the eerie fairytale and manages to keep the multi-charactered Carrey on a tight enough rein to head off the trademark hysteria.
DVD Extras:
A Special Edition worthy of the title. Deleted scenes, a pair of gab-tracks and a host of effects-based featurettes. No Carrey outtakes, mind, but Silberling's commentary with series author Daniel Handler (posing as ""the real"" horrified Lemony Snicket) is fair compensation. Best of the rest is the sound-effects featurette, where, in the name of art, a house is subjected to a sustained and violent attack, culminating in a 40-foot tree being yanked down on top of it.
