Movie Review: Inkheart

It's been a while since I last read Inkheart. Funnily enough, I read Inkspell, the sequel to Inkheart first because I didn't know any better at that time. Nevertheless, the story of Inkheart still resonates in my mind, probably because I've read it twice (check out why rereading a book isn't a waste of time here.) 

I think that the movie did an excellent job portraying the concept and characters from the book. Could it have been better? Yes. But was it still a good movie? Yes as well. 

First of all, I think it should be made clear that the way Inkheart was filmed is that it was to be a stand alone movie. There are no sequels to this movie, since it actually took events from Inkspell and made it a conclusive ending (Dustfinger gets read back into the Inkworld, which doesn't happen until book two in the series.)

I think that the character that played Dustfinger, Farid, Mo and Meggie were excellent. The special effects used for Dustfinger's fire-eating skills were pretty awesome (fast forward to 1:12 in the movie trailer below to check them out!) I love Meggie's British accent too :-) Meggie really comes across as a "bookish" type of girl. And Mo, aka Silvertongue, is the perfect book doctor-turned-last-minute-hero. His love for Meggie really shows as he does anything possible to keep her safe. Last but not least, Farid was definitely my favorite character...in fact, I'm going to dedicate a whole paragraph to Farid.

Farid is a thief mo accidentally reads out from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. At first, he thinks he's stuck in a dream when he falls into the "real" world. But he soon becomes an invaluable member to the team as they try to defeat Capricorn and his gang (more about Capricorn later.) In many ways, Farid reminds me of Day from Legend. Okay, go ahead and slap me if you want for making another reference to Legend. But seriously, Farid used to be a thief from Ali Baba, which basically means he has some mad ninja skills. Plus, he's a quick learner and quickly masters the basic arts of firebreathing from Dustfinger. I couldn't find any good video clips from the movie...so I found some clips of free running on youtube. Honestly, they're like ninjas!

Okay, on to Capricorn and his gang. They're the baddies in this movie. Capricorn was something I wasn't quite expecting. I guess I just didn't picture him the way I did in my head. And his gang, well, they're pretty much the stereotypical "bad guys." The directors of Inkheart even included the one stupid bad guy who makes bad jokes (think Ed from the Lion King.) Honestly, you couldn't get more cliche than the villains in Inkheart: black clothing, kind of ugly, talk loudly and like to push people around.

Some of my favorite lines from the movie were actually said by Fenoglio, the author of the book Inkheart in the movie (Inkheart is an actual book in the movie.) "This must be what it feels like to give birth!"--Fenoglio when he meets the characters he has written about.

Some other awesome quotes from the movie include:

Capricorn: What's that sticky stuff called?

Basta: Duct tape.

Capricorn: Yes, duct tape. I love duct tape.

Fenoglio: [to Dustfinger] You don't have to be selfish just because that's how I wrote you! You're more than that, you said so yourself.

Overall, I think yes, it was worth my time watching this movie. This is the perfect film for readers and writers alike.  Check out the movie trailer below and see if it catches your eye!

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