A Series of Unfortunate Events… a childhood book lovers’ dream come true.

** may contain slight spoilers **

When I heard that Netflix was creating an adaptation of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ I was worried. The first adaptation in 2006, crammed the first three books into one movie. Thus, the movie didn’t do Lemony Snicket’s well-crafted books any justice. So, I was concerned that this adaptation would be the same. I thought that the characters would be different to how I imagined them while reading the books. Although I read the books about ten years ago when I was in primary school; the Netflix series did calm my nerves. The show swept me away, back into the warped world of the Baudelaire orphans.

 

From left: Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf, Malina Weissman as Violet, Presley Smith as Sunny and Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire.

 

The acting in this show was top notch. First, the three children were perfectly cast to play the orphans. I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Klaus and Violet. They worked together well, creating plans to save them from Count Olaf. The characters talents complemented each other. Klaus being the bookworm, and Violet being a clever inventor, they manage to escape Olaf.  Both Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes fit into their roles with ease, playing the intelligent but unfortunate orphans. Even baby Sunny (played by cute Presley Smith) was great in her limited role.

Although I did enjoy Neil Patrick Harris’ performance as Count Olaf, I was surprised about the amount of comedy he brought to the role. His performance was more true to the original novels than the 2006 film adaptation, which I was happy to see. Harris was well chosen for Olaf, as he appeared sadistic and sociopathic as Olaf has always been.

Whereas in Snicket’s novels Count Olaf and his theatre troupe appeared more sinister and harsh, in the Netflix adaptation the characters were more foolish, following the orders of their troupe leader Olaf the best they can, most often leading to comedic circumstances.

The rest of the adult cast is wonderfully ignorant, such as the orphans Banker, Mr Poe. Throughout the episodes, I felt myself feeling the same frustration as I felt reading the books so many years ago – so much annoyance that Mr Poe never listen to the orphans, and countless times almost gets them caught by Olaf.  Joan Cusack playing Justice Strauss the well-meaning but confused Judge was also well done, although her character also was too ignorant to truly help the Baudelaire orphans.

The last episode was left open, leading us to believe there will be a series two. This first series only covered the first four books, also indicating there is more to come. I can’t wait for the next series, as it will be much darker if the theme of the books are adhered to by the producers of this show.

 

Overall, for series one I am giving a 4.5 / 5 star rating.

 

Images credit: imdb.com