This is a fantasy story about special storytellers that have a magical gift, which makes the characters they speak about come alive. Brendan Fraser plays the lead character of Mortimer “Mo” Folchart. Mo loves books, especially old ones. At the beginning of the film , we see him reading Little Red Riding Hood to his baby daughter. Then we see the character of Red Riding Hood appear in the backyard of their house.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
Twelve years later, Meggie (played by Eliza Hope Bennet) travels with her father. Mo loves to hunt for old books. He searches all over the world. He is looking for a particular one. In an old bookshop in Germany, while Meggie waits out front, Mo finds the book he has been searching for, for so many years. The moment Mo finds the book, strange things start to happen. A ferret named Gwin shows up at Meggie's feet. A man named Dustfinger (played by Paul Bettany), who is the owner of the ferret, also suddenly appears. Dustfinger begs Mo to read him back into the story of “Inkheart” so he can return to his place in the book. Mo refuses. Mo says he stopped reading out loud because the results are not predictable. Mo and Meggie escape Dustfinger. They go to Italy to see Great Aunt Elinor (played by Helen Mirren).
Elinor's mansion is a gigantic place with a library full of books. Elinor questions Meggie about what happened to her mother Resa. Meggie gets angry, storms off. Meggie asks her father about her mother. Mo tells her the story of when he first read “Inkheart” three characters came to life, but Resa, Meggie's mother, disappeared into the book. Dustfinger shows up again. He tells Mo that he told Capricorn where they are, because Capricorn is also from the book and Capricorn has a reader with the “silver tongue” that causes things to be read out of and into books.
Capricorn (played by Andy Serkis) and his men capture Mo, Meggie and Elinor. Capricorn takes the copy of “Inkhert found by Mo in the bookstore in Germany, then burns it in front of them betraying Dustfinger at the same time. Capricorn's reader has a stutter so the characters he reads out of book come out incorrectly, with text tattooed on their faces. Capricorn forces Mo to read a book. Mo reads from the “Arabian Nights.” He tells Capricorn he is not able to control what comes out of a book. Gold rains down and a young Arabic boy comes out of the “Arabian Nights” and one of Capricorn's men replaces the book in the book.
Resa finds herself trapped in the “Inkheart” book working in the kitchen. Dustfinger's ferret, Gwen, steals the key from Capricorn's mom, that they need to free Resa. They search for the last remaining copy of “Inkheart” by going to visit the author Fenoglio (played by Jim Broadbent). Fenoglio finds it incredible that the characters from the book he wrote, now almost forgotten, and out-of-print, have come to life. He insists on seeing them before he will give them the last copy of the book. Mo just wants to read Dustfinger back into the book and read his wife Resa out of the book. Fenoglio tells them there are no more copies of “Inkheart” available but Fenoglio has the original manuscript. They fight with Capricorn and his men to save Resa and defeat Capricorn. At the same time, they are able to read Dustfinger back into the book so he can rejoin his family.
Best part of story, including ending:
This fantasy story is amazing in that the characters in book are able to come alive. This is an interesting premise for a story.
Best scene in story:
I like the scene when the boy from the Arabian Nights comes out of the novel and gold showers down on all of them because it is fun to think of other things that could be brought out of books.
Opinion about the main character:
Mo has special skills and because of this, he has gotten into a lot of trouble. It is nice he is able to reverse all the problems he caused and reunite with his wife at the end.
