‘A SERIES of Unfortunate Events’ may sound familiar. That’s because it is.
The famous 13 books were written by Daniel Handler (who became famous under the pen name Lemony Snicket) in the early 2000s.
Just when the literature industry revelled at the magical stories, the film industry decided to take a piece of the pie and create a movie adaptation of the series.
Starring Jim Carrey as Count Olof, ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ became a box office hit in 2004 and won numerous awards including Best Makeup and Teen Choice Awards’ Movie Villain.
Opting to bank on the success some more, Netflix scooped the story and turned it into a series.
If you haven’t been a fan but you’re eager to get into it now, here’s the gist of it all: Count Olaf (played by Neil Patrick Harris) is a cruel man.
He adopts three orphans who lost their parents in a mysterious fire and does all he can to make their lives miserable. But this isn’t just an ordinary show.
It’s as confusing as it is creative because for the first few minutes into the show, you are asked why a decent person such as yourself is even bothering to watch it.
You are constantly told to “look away” because there’s nothing good to expect. Assuming you haven’t read the books, it’s probably more effective that way.
Despite the deterrent that is probably a ploy to make you curious, you ignore them all and start to get into the lives of the Baudelaire children.
There’s Violet (played by Malina Weissman); the oldest at 14, who is right-handed (at least, that’s how she is described) and has a knack for tinkering about and coming up with cool mechanical inventions.
Her brother Klaus (played by Louis Hynes) is “a little older than 12” and a middle child. He wears glasses “which make him seem intelligent’ and that’s because he is.
Attracted to science, theories and literature, his impressive vocabulary will have you liking this little lad in an instant.
But just as you think you’re at the brink of normalcy, you’re introduced to Sunny (Presley Smith), the baby of the group who has “sharp teeth”, so she can literally bite through anything.
Including stones. Despite the dark aesthetics attached to the series, you realise that this is not a tale that is marred with murder and mystery the way a Sherlock Holmes’ case would be told. Oh, no.
This series targets teens who desire magic, adventure and plain old tomfoolery.
Lemony Snicket also stars in the series (played by Patrick Warburton) and he narrates almost everything in the lives of the Baudelaire children and brings about just enough emotion to entertain.
You may hear a number of gloomy words: misery, tribulation, dire consequences, but it’s not that bad because there’s humour in this twisted tale – enough for children to enjoy.
Literature lovers can take note of this series too, spotting unforeseen developments, such as Edgar Allen Poe being black.
Never saw that coming. The series also has a tendency of defining difficult words, at least for the children, so 10 points for the educational aspect!
But of course, the main star of the show is the ever-so-dastardly Count Olaf who makes the entire series worth watching. In the words of Snicket’s character: “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you are better off somewhere else.” So do watch this.
