For the past couple of months, Netflix has been hyping up the release of their new “original” series, “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” I put “original” in quotations because it was already a movie and was perfectly okay with staying only a movie.
If you’ve seen the original movie or read the books you know that the series circles around the troubles of three orphans- Violet, Claus and Sonny Baudelaire- after their parents died in a mysterious fire. They are then taken to live with their closest relative, Count Olaf, their 14th time removed uncle who is plotting to steal their enormous fortune.
Anyway, the Netflix rendition of the book series is artistic in a sense. The set feels clearly fake and plastic-like which I can’t tell if this was a choice or it was just very low budget. The scenes, characters, and sequence of events very much resemble the ones from the movie. This kind of bugs me because I was excited to see a different take on the series. Instead, it just feels like I’m watching a knockoff of the movie at a way slower pace. Not to mention, the characters look identical to the ones from the movie, which makes it seem like Netflix wanted to cast look-a-like actors instead of people who could offer some actual skills. ALSO, the narrator, Lemony Snicket, is played by the same man who voiced the wolf from Hoodwinked and I'm in the third episode and I can't stop imagining the wolf narrating.
Maybe I’m being a little bit critical, but this series seriously does not compare. However, the show isn’t all that bad; it has its ups. Joan Cusack plays the judge neighbor to Count Olaf which is always a blessing to see, especially after watching all of Shameless this past month. Also, after watching the movie a couple of times, I was still very unsure about that actually happened to the Baudelaire parents. The movie hints at some family secrets but never gives a clear answer to the actual starting of the fire and disappearance of the parents. In the Netflix series, they show the parents held captive in the very first episode which made me want to continue watching and figure out what actually happened to them.
All in all, this series isn’t completely unbearable and I recommend you at least try it out, especially if you want to relive your childhood. It’s a series you can finish in a week and you won't have to pay much entire attention to. Try it out and see if it’s as awful as I’ve been saying it is or if it’s actually enjoyable.
