Inkheart (film)

Inkheart
Film poster
Directed by	Iain Softley
Written by	David Lindsay-Abaire (screenplay) Cornelia Funke (novel) Gary David Goldberg
Produced by	Cornelia Funke Ileen Maisel Dylan Cuva
Starring	Brendan Fraser Eliza Bennett Paul Bettany Helen Mirren Andy Serkis Jim Broadbent
Music by	Javier Navarrete
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release dates	December 11, 2008 December 12, 2008 January 23, 2009
Running time	125 min
Countries	United States United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£30,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$17,088,285

Inkheart is a 2009 fantasy film, directed by Iain Softley. It is based on the 2003 German novel of the same name by Cornelia Funke. The film was first slated for release on March 19 2008, but has been pushed back to December 12 2008 in the UK and January 23 2009 in the US, partially because of New Line's marketing worries in connection with the now-concluded 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

Production

The author of the book on which the film was based, Cornelia Funke, was quoted as saying that "we had our second screening (summer 2007), which went well, and I really loved the movie, but they are still changing things, especially at the end."

As with the production of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the production progressed very slowly. The American release was originally slated for Christmas 2007, but then was changed to March 19, 2008. In addition, due to the writer's strike, the film was further pushed back and is now set to open January 23, 2009.

Inkheart was filmed at Shepperton Studios near London, England and on location in 2006/2007.

Plot

Mortimer "Mo" Folchart (Brendan Fraser) and his 12-year-old daughter, Meggie (Eliza Bennett), share a passion for books. What they also share is an extraordinary gift for bringing characters from books to life when they read aloud. But there is a danger: when a character is brought to life from a book, a real person disappears into its pages.

On one of their trips to a secondhand book shop, Mo hears voices he hasn't heard for years, and when he locates the book they're coming from, it sends a shiver up his spine. It's Inkheart, a book filled with illustrations of medieval castles and strange creatures--a book he's been searching for since Meggie was three years old, when her mother, Resa (Sienna Guillory), vanished into its mystical world.

But Mo's plan to use the book to find and rescue Resa is thwarted when Capricorn (Andy Serkis), the evil villain of Inkheart, kidnaps Meggie and, discovering she has inherited her father's gift, demands that she bring his most powerful ally to life--the Shadow. Determined to rescue his daughter and send the fictional characters back where they belong, Mo assembles a small group of friends and family--some from the real world, some from the pages of books--and embarks on a daring and perilous journey to set things right.

Cast

• Brendan Fraser as Mortimer Folchart
• Eliza Bennett as Meggie Folchart
• Paul Bettany as Dustfinger
• Andy Serkis as Capricorn
• Jim Broadbent as Fenoglio
• Helen Mirren as Elinor Loredan
• Rafi Gavron as Farid
• Sienna Guillory as Teresa "Resa" Folchart
• Lesley Sharp as Mortola
• Matt King as Cockerell
• Jamie Foreman as Basta
• Jennifer Connelly as Roxane
• Marnix Van Den Broeke as The Shadow
• Steve Speirs as Flatnose
• Jessie Cave as Nymph, an original character created for the film.
• Adam Bond as Prince Charming, an original character created for the film.
• Tereza Srbova as Rapunzel, an original character created for the film.

Differences from the book

• Meggie's power is discovered by Capricorn, in the movie, after the appearance of Toto, the dog summoned by reading The Wizard of Oz, but in the novel she summons Peter Pan's Tinkerbell.
• Farid and Dustfinger set fire to Capricorn's house. In the book Farid and Mo did it.
• Dustfinger is taken into Inkheart by Mo. In the book he isn't but in Inkspell he is finally taken in
• Mo agrees to send Dustfinger back into Inkheart. The fire juggler is reunited with his family, while some kind of hummingbird is sent into the real world.
• It is revealed by Fenoglio that inside Inkheart Dustfinger would die while saving his Marten Gwin. Because the Marten is not sent back in the book along with Dustfinger, the juggler will most likely live.
• Farid remains with Meggie's family.
• Every other creature summoned from the book is sent back, due to an addendum written by Meggie herself.
• Gwin, Dustfingers' pet, is a ferret in the movie and a marten in the novel.
• Teresa gets her voice back in the end of the movie, while in the book series she gets it back in Inkspell.

Reception

Inkheart has received generally negative to mixed reviews from critics. It has so far received a 37% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 68 reviews, with an average score of 4.9 and a score of 23% from top critics, based on 15 reviews. [1] It did, however, reach a higher rating of 76% from the RT Community. Their consensus is "Heavy on cliches and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn't quite get off the ground." In addition, Metacritic has given the film a 47 out of 100, indicating "Mixed or Average Reviews"[2]. IMDb has given the movie a 6.9/10, based on 1,024 votes.

Kirk Honeycutt of Hollywood Reporter disliked the film, saying, "Whatever made the German novel Inkheart by Cornelia Funke so popular that it got translated into 37 languages is nowhere in evidence in its film version," and "The main problem is the central concept itself." [3] On the other hand, Bill Goodykoontz of Arizona Republic enjoyed the film, saying, " Inkheart is entertaining enough, if not always easy to follow. And if it does nothing else, at least it may inspire kids to read, if for no other reason than to help make sense of it all." [4]

External links

• Official site
• Inkheart at IMDb
• Inkheart at Rotten Tomatoes.
• Cornelia Funke's Website
• Official Inkheart Film Commission
• Director Iain Softley and Helen Mirren Talk About "Inkheart"