the Mind’s Chew Toy

Synopsis:

Meggie (Bennett) is a young girl whose father (Fraser) has a secret ability - he can bring characters from books to life when he reads them aloud. But when a power-hungry villain from a rare children’s fable kidnaps Meggie’s father to bring others out of the boundaries of fiction, she and a disparate group of friends both real and magic embark on the kind of adventure she has only read about in books to save him and set things right. Based on the book by Cornelia Funke.

Our Thoughts:

In the course of our jobs, Heather and I have an opportunity to listen to a lot of books on CD. As we haven’t gotten around to visiting a local library recently, we’ve been relying on the generosity of others to loan us some of their books to listen to. I find some I never would have read otherwise, and the good ones help the day to fly by.

One such book was Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. Having been a childhood fave of one of my co-workers, she had taken it out of the library to reacquaint herself with the story. She offered it to me to listen to, thinking I would enjoy it as well. While I wasn’t too impressed with the previous Cornelia Funke book I had listened to, The Thief Lord, I figured I’d give the author another shot.

I listened as the storyteller’s voice (in this case, Lynn Redgrave) took me on a journey into a book full of magic and villainy. Just like Mo’s daughter Maggie, the reader/listener is unaware of Mo’s talent at the start of the book, and think him to be nothing but a bookbinder. As the story unfolds, Meggie’s journey of discovery into her father’s unlikely past and current difficulties is shared by the reader/listener, and the story quickly becomes more and more involving.

The day quickly ended as Lynn Redgrave’s voice helped me picture the likeable characters in my head as they went through their trials and tribulations. When I discovered this book was going to become a movie, I was a bit worried - after all, would the characters match the pictures in my head?

And then I heard who was going to be in the film. Paul Bettany as Dustfinger? That couldn’t have been a better match if I had picked the role myself. Brendan Fraser as Mo? That was a given, since he voices the 2nd (and far inferior) novel in the series, Inkspell. Having seen the preview over at the official site, inkheartmovie.com, I was overjoyed at how they had seemed to pull the film in my head onto the screen, even adding in Helen Mirren and others to fill the other important roles, including Andy Serkis looking very much the part of the evil bad guy (although I was thinking more of a younger Ricardo Montalban-type in that role).

Obviously, I’m looking forward to this movie, but I do have a few qualms. If the first film is a success, then they will most likely bring the characters back for the second film, as they make the far inferior Inkspell into a movie as well.

While this first book sped by, even Brendan Fraser couldn’t help the 12-disc behemoth that was the second book move along any quicker. And when the book is finally finished…it leaves the reader/listener hanging, and the third book, Inkdeath isn’t even available for almost another year (September 2008)! Whatever fun and excitement the reader/listener has after listening to the first book will have evaporated before they are even done with the second book (if they finish it at all).

Will the same be true of the films? Will the second film become the new The Da Vinci Code (2006) and drag on and on without an end - and Inkspell wouldn’t even have a decent book to back it up! AARGH!

Okay, so maybe I’m getting ahead of myself on that one.

The question on my mind about this film - how will this be able to live up to my expectations? Since I enjoyed the book so much, I’m sure I’m putting a lot of pressure on what is essentially a children’s movie. Most likely, the film will be a bit of light fluff that only slightly resembles the book I remember, and I’ll be sadly disappointed.

But, that hasn’t discouraged me too much so far, so this one is still in the running as a possible for seeing in the theaters. Since Heather and I have a custom of seeing a birthday movie apiece, and my birthday is in March, this one is looking like a possibility…but so is Wanted (2008). Decisions, decisions!

UPDATED: Of course, now that the movie’s release date has been moved to January, it’s out for a birthday movie, but I’m still really looking forward to it!