As a person who lives and breathes the book version of stories, and perhaps gets a little too obnoxious in critiquing their movie counterparts, I was understandably skeptical about the Netflix Original, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events." As the dedicated reader may know, there was A Series of Unfortunate Events movie, which to me was, well, unfortunate. Though my memory of it is dull, a wide and illustrious story was limited to only it's first three volumes. I could be nitpicky about the changing of some of Olaf's atrocities, I will give grace for the fact that there was not a thing they had him do that was uncharacteristic of the Count.
Skeptic though I am, I just watched the newest trailer and I am SO STINKIN' EXCITED. Okay, I'm also scared that this series is going to hurt me and the beloved books of my childhood, but there is so much potential in this trailer. You can watch for yourself here:
Or read my play-by-play here, if you're lazy or reading this at 1 a.m. with your roommates asleep (been there, done that)
First things first, the Netflix trailer has a description bar that reads, "Dear Viewer, The world is vast and full of wonders. So on Friday, the 13th of January, please... watch something else." It's a small, silly thing, but it hearkens back to the actual books in which Lemony Snicket pleads with the reader to put the book down. This makes me feel like the series is going to pay attention to the little details that would make the show lack some of the witty cynicism that I love about the books.
Then we get Patrick Warburton as our narrator which I can only hope will be perpetuated throughout the series. Mr. Poe is not the overweight man with a handkerchief I know and love, but he definitely portrays an endearing awkwardness that is the man I know and love. I'm curious about the portrayal of all of the "relatives" of the Baudelaire's and excited to see them develop.
Finally, as I'm sure you know, Neil Patrick Harris is Count Olaf. And he is perfect. Jim Carey was fabulous Count Olaf who captured the eccentricities of Count Olaf well. At times it was a little more over the top, but Harris seems to be walking the line between the menacing evil and hilarious absurdities of the Count.
It's also VERY exciting to see the story continue past the first three books, though the scenes pictured only reflect, I think, the first four of the books.
This trailer was beautifully done. While I can offer a critique of the elements as far as they are book related, I don't know much about the movie making world. The trailer just looks...nice. I like the music, I like the visuals. All the little things that use complicated words like "camera angle" and "lighting" are probably a 10/10, too.
I am super excited to tune in on January 13, 2017 and watch "A Series of Unfortunate Events," until The End.
