Apparently not everyone was glued to the TV watching the Super Bowl. Approximately 4 million people made their way to a theater to see Inkheart, the new fantasy film starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, and heavyweight British actress Helen Mirren. Because of its gross revenue during the Super Bowl weekend the film made the Top 10 list for film openings.
Inkheart, written by Cornelia Funke, is a book that initially focuses on a mystery: why won’t Meggie’s father read to her aloud anymore? Meggie, a 13-year old young girl developed her love of books based on her father’s influence. She remembers him reading aloud to her when she was a baby, but can’t understand why her abruptly father stopped this practice. Turns out Mo, Meggie’s father, is a Silvertongue, someone that can bring book characters to life just by reading about them aloud. Mo no longer reads to Meggie because when she was 3-years old he read from a book called Inkheart and mistakenly released several villainous characters on Earth: Capricorn, an evil killer, his servant Basta, and Dustfinger, a fire eater. In their place Meggie’s mother Teresa was sent into the book world, a place called Inkworld.
Dustfinger warns Mo that Capricorn is looking for him. Mo decides they must leave their current home because the risk of being discovered by Capricorn is too great. Thus they head to Italy, where Meggie’s great aunt Elinor lives. For Meggie this explains why she and her father never stay in one place for very long; her father is trying to stay one step ahead of Capricorn.
Speaking of Capricorn, he’s a sadistic man who takes pleasure in torturing and killing others. He’s said to have “fed a bird to a cat on purpose, just to watch it being torn apart.” He’s recruited several henchmen to locate and capture Mo so he can force him to read a murderous creature to life and wreak havoc on his enemies.
The evil Capricorn is also looking for the author of Inkheart so he can force him to write a new, more diabolical ending to the book. Mo has been searching for the writer of Inkheart as well but he wants the author to write a new ending that will help him send Capricorn and Basta back into the Inkworld.
The person who wrote Inkheart is also being pursued – by both Capricorn and Mo. Capricorn wants the writer to write a new, dark, murderous ending to the story. Mo however wants to persuade the writer to write a new ending that forces Capricorn and his evil followers back into Inkworld. He’s also hoping that the writer will include a story that lets Mo read his wife back into the human world.
Cornelia Funke stated that Brendan Fraser was her inspiration when she wrote Inkheart. As such she adamantly insisted that the director cast him as Mo in the film. The studio wanted a bigger star for the role but Cornelia eventually prevailed. There’s talk of making the second book in the trilogy, Inkspell, into a film as well but a release date hasn’t been determined yet.
Inkheart is a well written action-adventure book that will appeal to both adults and teens. Cornelia Funke’s world building and character development are top notch and sure to attract more followers as the film’s popularity increases.
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