The days when children looked forward to getting a new book for Christmas sadly seem to be a thing of the past, especially since Harry Potter has been retired. Nowadays it’s all about DVDs and videogames, and while the kids may be more visually literate, they are missing out on the pleasures and magic that books can bring. Inkheart, based on the novel by Cornelia Funke, certainly shows there is magic in reading books, whether it will encourage people to read is another matter.
Twelve-year-old Meggie Folchart (Eliza Bennett) and her father Mo (Brendan Fraser) share a passion for books. They also share a gift for bringing characters from books to life (literally) when they read aloud – although Meggie is unaware of this talent. They can also hear the whispers of fictional voices when in the presence of the books that contain them, and on one of their trips to a second-hand book shop, Mo hears voices he hasn’t heard for years. When he finds the book it is the titular “Inkheart,” a fantasy story he’s been searching for since Meggie was three years old when her mother, Resa (Sienna Guillory), disappeared.
Along with the often underrated Fraser, this film has a fantastic cast including Andy Serkis as the evil Capricorn, who is bringing all manner of nasty fictional creatures into the world, Helen Mirren as an eccentric, book-loving aunt, Paul Bettany as the sometimes heroic Dustfinger and Jim Broadbent as Fenoglio, the author of the book that is causing all the problems.
Although books coming to life is hardly a new idea, the way in which it is done and the consequences of it, allow for a good mixture of humour, scares and larger than life characters, as well as nods to some literary classics. Director Iain Softley’s film is the ideal family movie for the Christmas holidays and definitely the best on offer.
Review: Chris Patmore