ASOUE has been both a beloved book series and a rather more contested film, and now Netflix has decided to take on a series-length adaptation... and it's really rather good.
The new format gives the writers (including the books' original author) more time to breathe, the series' wordplay and loquaciousness getting far more focus. Each episode being up to an hour long means each of the books gets proper focus instead of the breakneck pace the film was forced to adopt. As a result, whilst each of the three children still have only one real defining characteristic (inventor, bookworm, baby) they are given more personality outside of these. A premise of the books was that the three Baudelaire orphans (including baby Sunny!) were all rather more intelligent than the adults around them - which again gets the due attention with more time available.
The adults however are amongst the stand-outs. Patrick Warburton dials the ham right down as Lemony Snicket, the narrator who addresses the audience directly in a deliciously dry style. Neil Patrick Harris has to step into Jim Carrey's shoes as Count Olaf, but this Olaf is much more menacing and sinister without losing the buffoonery inherent to a terrible actor. Olaf (the character) is a giant ham, but NPH convinces us that any child entrusted to his care would be genuinely scared.
Overall (and despite what the catchy opening number would have you do) it's most certainly worth a watch, with the caveat that binging the whole series in quick succession will highlight the inherent repetitiveness and it may be worth pacing it out over a longer period.
Arc The First - A Good Beginning
ASOUE has been both a beloved book series and a rather more contested film, and now Netflix has decided to take on a series-length adaptation... and it's really rather good.
The new format gives the writers (including the books' original author) more time to breathe, the series' wordplay and loquaciousness getting far more focus. Each episode being up to an hour long means each of the books gets proper focus instead of the breakneck pace the film was forced to adopt. As a result, whilst each of the three children still have only one real defining characteristic (inventor, bookworm, baby) they are given more personality outside of these. A premise of the books was that the three Baudelaire orphans (including baby Sunny!) were all rather more intelligent than the adults around them - which again gets the due attention with more time available.
The adults however are amongst the stand-outs. Patrick Warburton dials the ham right down as Lemony Snicket, the narrator who addresses the audience directly in a deliciously dry style. Neil Patrick Harris has to step into Jim Carrey's shoes as Count Olaf, but this Olaf is much more menacing and sinister without losing the buffoonery inherent to a terrible actor. Olaf (the character) is a giant ham, but NPH convinces us that any child entrusted to his care would be genuinely scared.
Overall (and despite what the catchy opening number would have you do) it's most certainly worth a watch, with the caveat that binging the whole series in quick succession will highlight the inherent repetitiveness and it may be worth pacing it out over a longer period.