A slew of compelling side characters certainly doesn’t hurt matters either. Paul Bettany is a perpetual scene-stealer as Dustfinger, a hilarious fictional character with a Dorothy complex. Basically for him, “there’s no place like home,” and he’ll stop at nothing to get back to Inkheart. Putting to an end to any potential progress that Dustfinger makes along the way, however, is Capricorn (Andy Serkis of Lord of the Rings fame as Gollum) who hopes to exploit Mo and Meggie for his evil, self-indulgent gain. Also sporting small but memorable roles are veteran Brit actors Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, who ham it up as key characters in this vibrant, fictional menagerie.

Without revealing too much more of the plot (part of the fun is trying to figure out what is going to happen next, after all), Inkheart hits all the right notes with thrilling action scenes, emotional resonance, and yes, enough humor to keep the mood relatively light among all the fictional—and non-fictional—turmoil. Although the story may be a little scary and confusing for the younger set (see Cautions below), there’s a good chance that older kids (and their parents) won’t be bored.

Briskly paced with enough verve, color and action to keep even your most A-D-D-prone movie fan engaged, Inkheart brings a much-loved novel to life without losing the glorious detail and character development in the process—an essential for great literature and an oft-neglected feature of many novels-turned-movies.
 
CAUTIONS:

• Drugs/Alcohol:  None.
• Language/Profanity:  The villains and Meggie’s great aunt Elinor say a couple of bad words.
• Sex/Nudity:  None.
• Violence:  There are some seriously intense moments of hand-to-hand combat, the absence of a mother, fantasy-related violence and scenes with scary monsters that parents of children under nine should be aware of.  While nothing is overly gratuitous, a younger audience could easily be frightened by some of the scenarios here.

Christa Banister is a full-time freelancer writer, specializing in music, movies and books-related reviews and interviews and is the author of two novels, Around the World in 80 Dates and Blessed Are the Meddlers. Based in St. Paul, Minn., she also weighs in on various aspects of pop culture on her personal blog. 

For more information, including her upcoming book signings and sample chapters of her novels, check out her Website.