Inkheart (2008)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Iain Softley

Writers (WGA):

David Lindsay-Abaire (screenplay)
Cornelia Funke (novel)

Release Date:

23 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

Every story ever written is just waiting to become real.

Plot:

A young girl discovers her father has an amazing talent to bring characters out of their books and must try to stop a freed villain from destroying them all, with the help of her father, her aunt, and a storybook's hero.

Plot Keywords:

Book | Villain | Fire Eater | Escape | Reading

US Showtimes:

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Cast

Brendan Fraser	...	Mo 'Silvertongue' Folchart
Sienna Guillory	...	Resa
Eliza Bennett	...	Meggie Folchart (as Eliza Hope Bennett)
Richard Strange	...	Antiquarian Bookshop Owner
Paul Bettany	...	Dustfinger
Helen Mirren	...	Elinor Loredan
Rafi Gavron	...	Farid
Matt King	...	Cockerell
Steve Speirs	...	Flatnose
Jamie Foreman	...	Basta
Stephen Graham	...	Fulvio
Mirabel O'Keefe	...	Young Meggie
Andy Serkis	...	Capricorn
John Thomson	...	Darius
Lesley Sharp	...	Mortola

Also Known As:

Ink Heart (USA) (alternative spelling)
Tintenherz (Germany)
Corazón de tinta (Argentina) (Peru) (Spain) [es]
Coeur d'encre (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Coração de Tinta (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Atramentové srdce (Slovakia) [sk]
Atramentowe serce (Poland) (poster title) [pl]
Bläckhjärta (Sweden) [sv]
El libro mágico (Mexico) [es]
Inima de cerneala (Romania) [ro]
Inkoustové srdce (Czech Republic) [cs]
La leggenda del cuore d'inchiostro (Italy) [it]
Mürekkep yürek (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Mustesydän (Finland) [fi]
O melanokardos (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated PG for fantasy adventure action, some scary moments and brief language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

Germany | UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #43606) | Ireland:12A | Germany:12 | South Korea:All | Singapore:PG | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Netherlands:9 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | South Africa:10V | Sweden:11 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Finland:K-11 | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | France:U | Portugal:M/12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Mexico:A | Iceland:10

Filming Locations:

Bourne Woods, Farnham, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Internationale Filmproduktion Blackbird Dritte

Trivia:

The exterior scenes were shot in Italy, where the story takes place, while most of the interiors were shot in England.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Dustfinger discovers Farid hiding in the back of the Citroen, Dustfinger moves Farid to the back seat and then closes the car door from the outside. In the next scene they are driving away.

Quotes:

Narrator: Since the dawn of time, storytellers have enchanted audiences with their words. But there is an even rarer gift. There are those, who by reading out loud, can bring characters to life. Out of books and into our world. Most of these Silvertongues, as they are know prefer to keep their skills a secret but some do not even know this gift is theirs, until it is too late.

Could have been better

I have read the books and it is not too bad an adaptation, except the film barely touches the second and third books.

I thought Brendan Fraser and Andy Serkis should have been the mainstay of the film, but were in fact the weaknesses. Fraser was flat and lifeless, and Serkis felt like a pantomime villain.

The star of the film for me was Paul Bettany as Dustfinger (incidentally, the book's best character, too); he was totally convincing and heartbreaking as the fire-dancer.

Jim Broadbent did well with Fenoglio, but only because he managed to annoy me as much as the character does in the book.

It would have been much, much better had Fraser injected a little more life into Mo, and Serkis convinced as an evil villain, but it was still watchable.