‘Inkheart’ Pulls Living Characters Out of Books — and Its Own Premise Into Oblivion

Mo reads aloud to his baby daughter, and a red hood appears out of thin air. That opening image sets the rules for “Inkheart,” a fantasy adventure about a man who accidentally pulls living characters out of books, and the daughter who learns too late what that power costs. The film, directed by Iain Softley and written by David Lindsay-Abaire, is based on Cornelia Funke’s 2003 novel. Brendan Fraser plays Mo, Paul Bettany plays Dustfinger, and Helen Mirren plays Elinor. It is a family film built on a simple premise: every story ever written is just waiting to become real.

The movie runs 106 minutes and trades on that premise throughout. Mo and his daughter Meggie search for a long-lost book that will help reunite a missing relative. What they find instead is Dustfinger, a thief who came out of the book years earlier. He wants Mo to read him back in, and the film spends most of its runtime chasing him across Europe while Capricorn and his henchman Basta hunt the family down.

Trailer, via HD Retro Trailers.

Dustfinger and the Hood

Bettany’s Dustfinger is the film’s most memorable performance. He is a thief, a liar and a man who believes Mo owes him a return ticket to the page. His scenes with Fraser carry the emotional weight of the story. The hood that appears at the start is a small detail, but it lingers as a reminder of the magic the film cannot quite control.

Fraser plays Mo as a man who has spent years hiding his gift. He reads to his daughter about Little Red Riding Hood, but he never explains why the hood appeared that night. The film lets the audience feel the weight of his secret before Meggie does. When he finally tells her the truth — that he pulled Dustfinger out of Inkheart nine years earlier — the revelation lands because the film has built the stakes slowly.

Capricorn’s Castle

Capricorn, played by Andy Serkis, is the film’s villain. He is a collector of treasures from fairy tales, and he uses Mo’s gift to gather gold and jewels from The Arabian Nights. He also imprisons Farid, one of the 40 Thieves. The film’s action sequences — a tornado from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a prison break, a chase across a castle courtyard — are competent but forgettable. They move the plot forward without leaving much of an impression.

The film’s middle stretch drags. Mo, Meggie and Elinor are captured, imprisoned and then freed in a series of set pieces that feel rushed. The escape using the tornado is the highlight of this section, but even it feels like a shortcut to the next scene. The pacing problem is structural: the film has too much ground to cover and not enough time to let the audience breathe.

Elinor and the Library

Helen Mirren plays Elinor, Mo’s great-aunt, with a quiet dignity. She runs a bookstore in Italy, and her library is destroyed by Basta. Her departure to recover what remains of her collection is a quiet moment of loss in a film full of spectacle. The film’s treatment of her character is uneven. Sometimes she is a plot device, sometimes she is a presence. Neither version does justice to the strength she shows in the book.

Jim Broadbent plays Fenoglio, the author of Inkheart. He is a minor character in the film, but his role is important: he created the world Mo and Meggie are trapped in. The film touches on this idea lightly, which is a missed opportunity. Broadbent’s performance is solid, but he is underused.

Sienna Guillory plays Resa, Mo’s wife, who is pulled into the book. She is a ghostly presence, a memory that drives the plot without appearing on screen. Lesley Sharp plays Mortola, Capricorn’s mother, and Jamie Foreman plays Basta. Rafi Gavron plays Farid, one of the 40 Thieves. Matt King plays Cockerell and Steve Speirs plays Flatnose. None of them get much room to develop beyond their functions in the story.

The Video Game

On January 12, 2009, a video game based on the film was released for the Nintendo DS. The game is separate from the film, but it shares the same world and the same characters. It is worth noting because it shows how the property traveled beyond the screen.

The Final Score

“Inkheart” is a film with a strong premise and a weak execution. The performances are good, especially Bettany’s, but the script rushes the middle and leaves the ending feeling tacked on. The film is visually appealing, with a European setting and a fantasy world that looks expensive to create. But the story does not earn the scale of its production.

The film’s tagline promises that every story is waiting to become real. That promise is not fully kept. The best parts of “Inkheart” are its characters and its images. The worst parts are its pacing and its resolution. It is a film that captures a magical idea and then hurries away from it.

The film was released theatrically on December 12, 2008, in the UK and January 23, 2009, in the US by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was produced by New Line Cinema. It grossed $62,450,361 on a $60 million budget. Those figures tell a story of a film that was expected to perform better than it did. The mixed reviews from critics reflect that disappointment.

The DVD and Blu-ray were released in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2009. The video game followed a month later. The home release allowed audiences to revisit the film at their own pace, but it did not change the shape of the story.

“Inkheart” is a film that is best remembered for its premise and its performances. It is not a great film, but it is a film with moments of genuine charm. The hood that appears at the start is a promise the film cannot quite keep. The chase through Europe is a spectacle without much meaning. The ending is a conclusion that feels rushed rather than earned.

It is a film worth seeing once, for the wonder of its idea. It is not a film worth revisiting often.

book adaptation · family film · Fantasy · Inkheart · movie review