I didn't realize how long I had been waiting for this series until I saw the first trailer. Don't get me wrong, when the Jim Carrey movie came out when I was a kid I was in love. That movie was the most quotable thing in my grade for the whole year. This last summer I decided to start rereading the series. After reading the first two, I decided to watch that movie again and realized it was terrible, rushed, and nothing like the books. Netflix's take on the series is exactly the opposite.
The first season covers the first four books, devoting two episodes to each book. This allows for great pacing, with about an hour and a half spent on each book in total. It also allows viewers to be able to get to know all of the characters and really grow to care about them; even some of the smaller characters like the henchman/acting troupe become lovable. The cast of characters in the books are so colorful and a joy to read, and it's great to be able to see them shine.
Speaking of the characters, the cast of this show is amazing. Neil Patrick Harris plays the dastardly Count Olaf and manages to perfectly walk the tightrope of being both funny and menacing. Three relatively unknown actors play the Beaudelaire children, all of which are age appropriate and very sweet to watch. Mr. Poe, played by K. Todd Freeman, also gets plenty of screen time in this adaption. But the guest stars are also amazing: Joan Cusack, Alfre Woodard, Aasif Mandvi, Will Arnet, and Colbie Smulders to name a few. And of course, Lemony Snicket is played by Patrick Warburton (who we actually get to see and not just hear). Not only are all of the actors very talented, the cast is also pretty racially diverse so far. I don't feel like I'm watching a lily-white Tim Burton movie while watching this series, and it could have very easily become that.
The sets are also lovely, too. There's the perfect amount of bright color to offset that melancholy mood lighting for the episodes to get boring to look at. There's an odd mix of early 1900s aesthetics and modern references to music and pop culture that make everything more interesting. Old fashioned cars and telephones feature in almost every episode. You feel like you're whisked away to some kind of fantasy world where giant snakes can act like dogs and most people still operate rotary phones while at the same time one of the children can make a reference to getting an Uber.
This show isn't perfectly mirroring the books. They take liberties with foreshadowing to be able to draw you in to the mystery of it all and that's fine with me. Plot isn't taking a backseat just for the sake of a comedic moment. It also helps that the teleplays for each episode are written by Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket himself), so everything feels a little more credible.
Overall I would give this show an A. It's entertaining, pretty to look at, has a great cast, and has a plot that stays true to it's original material. If you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely recommend giving it a try, even if you never read the books. Can Netflix do this with all my favorite books series?
