LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

This is a stylish, funny movie with a great deal to recommend it. Its strongest moral point is simple and good: children who work together, love each other, and use their gifts can overcome horrendous circumstances.

But the movie is also very dark. Children face death, frightening attacks, perilous situations, and a villain willing to kill for money. Several moments are sad and nearly depressing, and the film lacks enough light humor to soften its sardonic tone.

The answer is yes if you have older children or young teenagers who can handle intense fantasy peril. For younger children, especially those in the imaginative stage from ages 3 to 7, choose something gentler.

After a massive fire kills their parents and destroys their home, the three Baudelaire children are placed with their nearest relative, Count Olaf. The outrageous actor quickly reveals that he wants their fortune and will do almost anything to get it.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny use their different talents to escape Olaf’s schemes. As they are placed with other relatives, Olaf continues pursuing them. Their survival depends on whether they can work together as a family.

Four stars means this film succeeds as stylish, clever entertainment. The sets, staging, lighting, costumes, and overall production quality are superb. It is beautifully filmed, and viewers who love visual spectacle will be dazzled.

The humor is often pointed and witty. However, some sections are flat, and Jim Carrey sometimes overacts. Combining three short books also gives the film an episodic quality. Even so, the visual delights and cleverness make this a very good match for pre-adolescents.

The film presents a dark, eclectic pagan worldview, but it does not rely on magic. It shows a sinful, fallen world filled with danger, deception, and loss. The story also includes elements of self-sacrifice and a moral coda affirming that children who work together and love each other are “very fortunate indeed.”

That moral center is a genuine strength. The children do not overcome adversity through power or luck alone. They use their abilities, depend on one another, and persevere as a family. The film repeatedly suggests that there is more good in the world than bad, although its bleak events sometimes make that claim difficult to see.

The movie’s worldview is not explicitly biblical, and its pagan elements remain part of its dark fantasy setting. Still, its picture of family cooperation and sacrificial love reflects a truth Scripture recognizes: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

Beautiful, clever, and morally encouraging, this dark fantasy is best saved for older children and up. Its frightening scenes and bleak tone may trouble younger viewers, but families with mature pre-teens can find much to appreciate. Our answer is WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 10 AND UP.