Another Series of Unfortunate Events

As said by my classmates, Ashley and John, this past week in class we analyzed the first four or five minutes of A Series of Unfortunate Events and nearly all of that was the opening credits, and song. As a person who read the books as a child, and watched the movie made in 2004, I was eminently under impressed with Netflix’s tv series. I can agree with John that Lemony Snicket, played by Patrick Warburton, was my favorite character. I was disappointed considering, I have always loved Neil Patrick Harris, and in the role of Count Olaf he just didn’t do anything to capture my attention and was not at all how I envisioned Count Olaf as a child.

I found that my opinion at the beginning was that I preferred the 2004 version of A Series of Unfortunate Events to the Netflix series, but when I went back to watch the movie to compare the two I found that many scenes from the first episode and the movie are significantly similar. Here is a scene from both the movie and the Netflix series:

In the side-by-side comparison, you can clearly tell that the scenes are deeply similar. In this scene, Count Olaf seems to frantically be showing the crowd a sheet of paper, and in the movie, you can’t quite tell what that paper is in this still. Looking at the judge in the background, I would assume that the piece of paper he is showing everyone is a legal document. In both scenes, Violet seems to be wearing a wedding dress and veil, and Count Olaf seems to be in a medieval suit. So one can conclude that maybe they are in a play where they are acting out a wedding, but when you take into account the looks on the faces in both scenes you start to obtain the inclining that maybe something is wrong.

I did notice that while plenty of scenes are extremely similar, the major difference between the two is the colour difference. In the movie, all of the scenes have muted tones and the characters all wear dark colors, which almost in some scenes blend them in with the background. Violet is a prime example of this contrast; in the movie she only wears black, but in the Netflix series, Violet is always wearing a pink dress and a baby blue cardigan. In fact, all of the siblings in the movie where some shade of gray or black, whereas in the series they are always wearing a bright colour, or some colour that makes them stand out.

In the end, I enjoyed the TV series and might continue to watch it, but I think that the 2004 movie will always hold a special place in my childhood. While there are hordes of differences between the movie and the series, and I only covered one, there are more similarities than I covered as well. Overall, if you have never read or seen the original A Series of Unfortunate Events this might be up your alley, but some might not appreciate the TV series being that the movie has a place in their heart. My advice would be to give the show a shot, and if you don’t like it you don’t like it, but maybe you find your next series to watch.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So, in lieu of having to watch the first four minutes of A Series of Unfortunate Events for an assignment that we did in class, I was particularly intrigued in the first four minutes that I wanted to see the rest of it, and coming from someone who's never read the books, this opinion will be not only be solely based on from what I've seen in the show, but also what I've seen in the first episode, as it may or may not represent the series as a whole.
And what I was presented with was more or less of a mixed bag. Starting with the most apparent feature of the show is the cinematography and sets. As the story proclaims numerous times throughout that this is not a happy story, that can be seen very clearly in the cinematography and coloring of the scenes. Shots are typically in drab and muted colors, while very few shots (such as the judge's house) are in pure color. The most prevalent showcasing of this being nearly any scene within Count Olaf's home, as it is typically dark and full of grays and blacks. The camera work is also very interesting, as shots are typically steady (even in moving shots) and very horizontal, with lots of details in the background. The camera work is very reminiscent of something that Wes Anderson would film.
Now let's move on to the acting in the show, and this is where the "mixed bag" comes in. Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf is okay, which means a lot as I did not expect him to be any good as Olaf, and Joan Cusack as Justice Strauss was wonderful. But Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket/The Narrator was just fantastic, with him going as far as being my favorite part of the whole episode. But here's where problems start. The kids playing Klaus and Violet are just terrible. I know that they are children and acting would be harder for them, but they didn't even seem to try. When they're told that their parents died in a fire that burned down their mansion, and even when they go to examine the burned down mansion, they don't even look that sad, not even any tears. And towards the end of the episode, something happens to Klaus (which I'm not going to spoil) that should make him cry, but he just sounds slightly more stuffy than usual. Most other times, they're usually just very flat, and the man the plays the banker is kind of underwhelming in his performance, too.
The writing is also in the middle of the road.  A lot of the jokes did make me either chuckle or laugh, though some did fall flat. But otherwise, save for Patrick Warburton's narration, the writing didn't really click for me. A lot of the characters kind of seemed stereotypically terrible, and as I said, the kids are typically flat in their performances and mixed with some lackluster dialogue, it doesn't make for much of an experience, save for the numerous jokes throughout.
Now, chances are that some of these complaints can be argued using the book as a reference, like some of the stuff in the episode is made that way because of how it is in the book. Well, I might pick up the books sometime as I hear they're quite reliant on dark humor and are typically praised by critics and audiences alike. As for the show, I may end up watching the next episode, although it may be hesitant and largely because of the cinematography, the jokes, and Patrick Warburton.