Unfortunate Events

[JRoss]

Just watched the first episode after staying up until midnight to see the release. Spoiler-free thoughts:

Patrick Warburton is terrible. He's one of my favorite actors, but he's not right for the part. The man does not convey sorrow in any form, nor desperation.

Visually, everything is perfect. Looks like I imagined everything from the books. Takes a lot of cues from the old film, probably due to Sonnenfeld's involvement in both projects.

The kids are all fine in their parts. The actors look like the ones from the film. Malina Wasserman reminds me of Emily Browning. Neil Patrick Harris is fantastic. Not nearly as over the top as Jim Carrey.

Wondered how they'd pad out the books to three episodes each when it usually took me less than an hour to read the first few books. Lemony gets several monologues, and they show events from the perspectives of other characters besides the children. Justice Strauss has a hilarious scene with Count Olaf.

The last shot of the episode, I feel, is a red herring. I can't say anything here without spoiling it, but you'll probably hear about it. I don't think ti's what they want us to think it is.

 

[Christopher]

I quite like it so far. I think the cast is mostly excellent. Harris is definitely better than Jim Carrey. Warburton is a very different Lemony Snicket than Jude Law was, much more quietly somber, but he's a good narrator. Aasif Mandvi was particularly good as Uncle Monty in the second volume -- he reminded me of Alfred Molina, which is high praise. (Each book is approached as a 2-parter, and I'm approaching the season as if it were a quartet of movies, watching one pair of back-to-back episodes per day.)

It's interesting how many cast members have superhero roles -- or maybe inevitable, given how abundant superhero shows and movies are these days. NPH played Spider-Man in the 2000 animated series and the Flash and Nightwing in DC animated movies, as well as the Batman: The Brave and the Bold villain the Music Meister (a role he'll hopefully reprise for the upcoming Flash/Supergirl musical crossover), and of course Dr. Horrible. Warburton was the live-action Tick and the TV-cartoon Buzz Lightyear, plus apparently he's done Superman's voice in a couple of shorts. Malina Weissman was the teenage Kara Zor-El in Supergirl, and Tara Strong (the voice of Sunny) has been several animated incarnations of Batgirl, the video-game Harley Quinn, and many others. Cobie Smulders is Maria Hill, and Will Arnett is Lego Batman. John DeSantis (Olaf's tall henchman) was Solomon Grundy in Smallville and Draaga in Supergirl. Alfre Woodard is Mariah Crawford in Luke Cage.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It's really uncanny how much Violet looks like Emily Browning. They've really stuck to the look established in the first movie for better or worse. It has that old period look as well which is cool but at the same time isn't as refreshing the second time around. I've only just gotten to Uncle Monty, it will be interesting to see once they get out of the shadow of the movie's material.

 

[Beagleman]

Episode one was pretty good, not really sure about Warburton here but we'll see.
I find it curious that they are keeping so much visual continuity with the movie version.

 

[Christopher]

I find it curious that they are keeping so much visual continuity with the movie version.

Well, Barry Sonnenfeld executive-produced the movie version, and was going to direct until he walked away due to not getting what he thought was a sufficient budget. So this is his second go at it, both producing and directing.

I'm actually a bit surprised to see that the movie and the show have different production designers. The movie's was Rick Heinrichs, while the show's is Bo Welch, who's done most of Sonnenfeld's movies. But then, both of them have worked on Tim Burton movies -- Welch did a bunch of his earlier stuff like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, and Batman Returns while Heinrichs did Burton's Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes -- so I guess they have similar styles.

 

[Beagleman]

Ah ok, didn't know about the Sonnenfeld connection, that makes sense.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I haven't read the books and only seen seen the film, but overall, I've enjoyed the first season. I love the absurd situations, the quirky characters, the macabre humor, and Patrick Warbourton's sardonic narration in Wes Anderson-esque trappings. Neil Patrick Harris, Aasif Mandvi, Joan Cusack, Alfre Woodard, and Catherine O'Hara are all wonderful in their roles, but it's a shame it's a shame we get so little of them aside from Harris. The child actors are great, too, (although I wonder how much of Presley Smith's reactions are natural), and I also found Malina Weissman eerily similar to Emily Browning.

The only thing I don't like is how annoyingly naive and clueless just about every adult character is, especially Arthur Poe, for what feels like the sake of keeping the Baudelaire children in the same endless repetitive cycle of dealing with Count Olaf. I get that it's commentary on how most of the adults don't treat children seriously, especially smart children like the Baudelaire children. I also get that Poe's particular case of cluelessness is an important aspect of his character. I even get that's all done for the sake of being part of "a series of unfortunate events." But all of it seems like bad writing to express those ideas because that nature got very tiresome very quickly.

That annoyance is just barely bearable because of everything else is so engaging including the ongoing mysteries.

Spoiler: The Miserable Mill

I have to confess that I was completely fooled on Father and Mother being the Baudelaire parents. It's a pity that they, too, were killed off because I enjoyed the rapport between Will Arnett and Cobie Smulders, but presumably the Quigmire children (as they were credited, although I don't think we heard their name) will now become important allies for the Baudelaire children.

I was less surprised by the connection between Count Olaf and Lemony Snicket. There have been some hints and suggestions throughout the season that there was more than meet's the eye regarding him, although I'm sure the same is true regarding their connection.

 

[Christopher]

The child actors are great, too, (although I wonder how much of Presley Smith's reactions are natural)

Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot of digital mediation with Sunny. What gets me is that there's only one performer credited, when usually screen babies (including movie Sunny) are played by twins so that neither child is kept working too long. So if they were able to get by with just one baby, that makes me wonder if what we're seeing is a largely digital creation/insertion based on a sampling of footage of Presley Smith doing various stuff. Which, if that is the case, could be useful for the remaining seasons of the show, since it would let them keep portraying Sunny with the same appearance even as the real baby grows up.

Although I figure the kid is probably physically present for at least some scenes. There's this lovely moment in episode 2 where Violet turns to walk away from, I think, Justice Strauss, and the baby reaches toward Strauss with this very affectionate expression and it seems like a really sweet, spontaneous moment that they were lucky to get (although I'm sure they chose the best moment out of multiple takes).

Of course, the best part of Sunny's "performance" is Tara Strong's voice work. Nobody does baby voices better.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I also thought it was odd only one baby was apparently used for Sunny but I think your supposition about extensive digital work might be the reason for only one. I did find myself wondering how they would handle the baby for the next two seasons (5 and 3 books each, respectively, according to Wikipedia) but that might be might the answer. It sounds like they do want to complete the entire series in a timely fashion within production and child labor laws restrictions.

The moment you recalled about real interaction with Presley Smith definitely popped out at me, especially since most of her reactions are close-ups to her alone. There's another scene later on the season where you see her bob her head in a very natural and unpredictable moment that isn't necessary for the scene but that moment made the scene feel more real.

Tara Strong's voice is good, too, as is all of the subtitle commentary, which I assume is all directly from the books or close enough.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

That scene popped out to me as well. The kid's young enough they might be able to get by if they film the rest soon enough. A toddler could work I would think.

 

[JRoss]

I haven't read the books and only seen seen the film, but overall, I've enjoyed the first season. I love the absurd situations, the quirky characters, the macabre humor, and Patrick Warbourton's sardonic narration in Wes Anderson-esque trappings. Neil Patrick Harris, Aasif Mandvi, Joan Cusack, Alfre Woodard, and Catherine O'Hara are all wonderful in their roles, but it's a shame it's a shame we get so little of them aside from Harris. The child actors are great, too, (although I wonder how much of Presley Smith's reactions are natural), and I also found Malina Weissman eerily similar to Emily Browning.

The only thing I don't like is how annoyingly naive and clueless just about every adult character is, especially Arthur Poe, for what feels like the sake of keeping the Baudelaire children in the same endless repetitive cycle of dealing with Count Olaf. I get that it's commentary on how most of the adults don't treat children seriously, especially smart children like the Baudelaire children. I also get that Poe's particular case of cluelessness is an important aspect of his character. I even get that's all done for the sake of being part of "a series of unfortunate events." But all of it seems like bad writing to express those ideas because that nature got very tiresome very quickly.

That annoyance is just barely bearable because of everything else is so engaging including the ongoing mysteries.

Spoiler: The Miserable Mill

I have to confess that I was completely fooled on Father and Mother being the Baudelaire parents. It's a pity that they, too, were killed off because I enjoyed the rapport between Will Arnett and Cobie Smulders, but presumably the Quigmire children (as they were credited, although I don't think we heard their name) will now become important allies for the Baudelaire children.

I was less surprised by the connection between Count Olaf and Lemony Snicket. There have been some hints and suggestions throughout the season that there was more than meet's the eye regarding him, although I'm sure the same is true regarding their connection.

With regards to your spoilers, I figured it out as I watched the end credits for the first movie. The new characters, named Duncan and Isadora, are in the books, but those others were never shown.

 

[Christopher]

I just finished the final 2-parter of the season... and, wow, they weren't kidding. I hadn't taken all the warnings about how grim and horrible and depressing this all was at all seriously, because it was so clearly a dark comedy... but, man, they really went dark at the end there.

Spoiler

So the heroic couple we'd been led to believe were the Baudelaires' parents trying to get home to them... turned out to be some other kids' parents all along. So the Baudelaires' parents really are dead. That was a pretty mean trick to play on the audience, and it made me really sad. And then they get their happy reunion with their own kids... and then they get killed too, the same way as the Baudelaires! Even worse, one of the kids dies too, since only two of them are at the boarding school at the end. And that made me even sadder.

On the plus side, if that was really Malina Weissman's singing voice at the end there, it's rather beautiful.

Anyway, I was paying attention to Sunny here, and it was clear to me that her head was digitally superimposed in a lot of shots, particularly in the lumber mill around the dangerous machinery, and in shots where Violet was walking or running while carrying her. I'd imagine Weissman was carrying a fake baby and they added the real baby's head later. So I guess I was right about why they only have one baby playing Sunny instead of twins. It seems it's only the real baby in close-ups, for the most part.