A Series of Unfortunate Events

2004
PG
1h 48m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

224K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:45

Dark Comedy Fantasy Epic Psychological Drama Quirky Comedy Adventure Comedy Family Fantasy

When a massive fire kills their parents, three children are delivered to the custody of cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, who is secretly plotting to steal their parents' vast fortune.When a massive fire kills their parents, three children are delivered to the custody of cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, who is secretly plotting to steal their parents' vast fortune.When a massive fire kills their parents, three children are delivered to the custody of cousin and stage actor Count Olaf, who is secretly plotting to steal their parents' vast fortune.

Director
- Brad Silberling
Writers
- Robert Gordon
- Daniel Handler
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

224K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,319

219

Director
- Brad Silberling
Writers
- Robert Gordon
- Daniel Handler
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 10 wins & 28 nominations total

Trivia
When the children first meet Count Olaf and Jim Carrey says, "Wait, let me do that one more time. Give me the line again, quickly, while its fresh in my mind." was not actually in the script. Carrey accidentally forgot his line and staying in character, wanting to try it again, but they kept the cameras rolling and felt it worked the way it happened.

Goofs
When Count Olaf asks why the children haven't cooked him roast beef, he is standing on the ground in front of his acting troupe. In the next shot, about a second later, he is shown jumping down from the table (This is due to cutting an extended scene where Olaf gets onto the table and ruins the dinner they have prepared).

Quotes
Count Olaf: I must say, you are a gloomy looking bunch. Why so glum?
Klaus Baudelaire: ...Our parents just died.
Count Olaf: Ah yes, of course. How very, very awful. Wait! Let me do that one more time. Give me the line again! Quickly, while it's fresh in my mind!
Klaus Baudelaire: [uncertainly] Our parents just died?
Count Olaf: [gasps dramatically]
Sunny: [in baby talk] What a schmuck!

Crazy credits
There is a credit for 'baby wrangler.'

Alternate versions
When aired on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, lines with profanity such as "Damn it, this was such a good character" have the offending language removed. In this case the line simply becomes "this was such a good character." However, what is odd is the line "No one knows the precise cause of the Baudelaire fire. My colleagues and I have investigated as best we can. But all we've discovered is that the blaze was started from a great distance through the refraction and convergence of light. And within moments, the entire mansion was in flames." is removed entirely, which is odd since it's an important plot point. However the line " And as mysterious as the source of the blaze, other mysteries began to unfold before the children's eyes. Every family has its secrets, doors left unopened. But as Klaus now realized, the smallest discovery would send his mind reeling with questions." is kept intact.

Connections
Featured in A Terrible Tragedy: Alarming Evidence from the Making of the Film - A Woeful World (2004)

Soundtracks
Loverly Spring
By Thomas Newman and Bill Bernstein

User reviews673

Review

Featured review

7/10

Stay for the end credits

The end credits is a ten minute long cartoon of such incredible beauty that it is a great shame that most people will never watch it. Simply its some of the best animation to come out all year.

While I can give the end credits a 10 out of 10 I can only give the rest of the film a begrudging 7 out of 10, although it should probably be a 6.5. Certainly this is a fantastically well made movie, that is for the most part very well acted but something is amiss in the tone of the film and so it never really is what it should be.

The story of three children who's parents are killed and who are forced from guardian to guardian by the murderous acts of Count Oloff is pretty bleak. And with a title like "A Series of Unfortunate Events" you really can't expect dancing elves, but the film makers have chosen to add a vein of madcap silliness to the proceedings that works against the rest of the film. It seems as if they were afraid that the material was going to be seen as too dark, which is a shame since its clear from the sequences where they left well enough alone that the film could have stood on its own.

Its a good movie, instead of the great one it wants to be.

Definitely worth seeing.