MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Fedorahawk If you have read the book, Inkheart, your in for a disappointment. If you haven't read the book, you will still be in a very depressed state. The filming is sub-par, the story an insult to the original work, and the acting is painful, very painful. The story that the movie presents is hard to follow at times, and throws in backstories from every other side character. Some of the effects are interesting, but most of them are crap. It's a festival of uninteresting scenes, filled with bland dialogue and unimaginative chemistry between the characters. All in all this film is a depressing example of a terrible adaptation from novel to film, its bad all around.

p-stepien Within our world special men exist with the ability to transgress from our reality into that of what they read, able to pull out elements of the told story. These special beings are called Silvertongues. Not all are fully aware of their power, often only evidencing this trait when it is already too late. Such is the curse of Mortimer, also known as Mo (Brendan Fraser), who discovered the gift whilst reading a bedtime story to his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett). The book "Inkheart" brings into our reality the malicious Basta (Jamie Foreman) and his henchmen, as well as the fire-juggler Dustfinger (Paul Bettany), meanwhile trapping his wife (Sienna Guillory) into the story. Left to singlehandedly bring up Meggie, Mo never gives up on attempting to retrieve his entrapped beloved. Basta, however, remains too fond of this world and destroys any found copies of the obscure fantasy novel, whilst simultaneously planning to overtake this world through utilising the force hidden in Mo's voice.Brendan Fraser found himself a sweet niche, as a hapless hero, aimlessly stumbling to victory and heroism with charm abound. "Inkheart" however fails to offer him much material to truly work with, supplanting a swiftly engaging and fantastic story with a tired schematic leading to a culmination that fizzle, instead of bangs. Despite being tied to the power of words, the dialogue reeks of repetitive banter with little focus on creating a stirring backdrop in enticing characters. Instead they slowly inhabit the screen, more odd presences than fully flung characters (such as a young thief invoked from the "Arabian Nights"). Even the seemingly dramatic events as Mo and Meggie finally reuniting with Resa after 12 years in Inkheart oblivion lack any dramatic pull, hardly registering as key plot points. The elements to make a good tale do linger in the background, however far-fetched and logically fallible the base premise, but there is no magic, instead a tired connect-the-dots to the final battle. The touches of CGI magic do cause a slight stir, but in this day and age the backbone for mindless satisfaction needs to be much sturdier. Definitely no Never-Ending Story...

Chrysanthepop 'Inkheart' initially gave me the impression of being just another fantasy film. However, once the premise is presented, it becomes interesting. The concept is intriguing but the plot is repetitive. Although it's not done to the point of ruining the movie, had the pacing been well maintained, this would have had potential of being a wonderful film experience. Much of the script and its execution is quite generic. The story is also lacking in depth due to convenient plot-conclusions and there are plot holes. The ending is rushed. Many of the characters and plot turns are poorly developed. For example, I would have liked to know what had actually happened to Resa and how she had ended up there. The special effects and cinematography are passable but I enjoyed the vibrant colours. The acting is pretty good overall. Brendan Fraser and Paul Bettany are good enough. Eliza Bennett is impressive. Sienna Guillory is very effective in a small role. Andy Serkis is fairly adequate. Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent provide brilliant comic relief. Even though the film hasn't reached its potential, given the novel and intriguing concept, it manages to still be a decent entertainer for the entire family.

TheLittleSongbird I have not read the books, but I have heard nothing but good things. I did enjoy Inkheart on the whole, but something was missing in translation and I can't put my finger on it.Inkheart does have a number of good things. The visuals, down from the cinematography, settings and costumes, are truly excellent and Javier Navarette's score is enchanting. The film is well-directed as well.And overall, I did enjoy the acting. The best of the lot comes from Paul Bettany who is stunning and steals every scene he's in and Helen Mirren who is deliciously batty. Brendan Fraser is dashing as well, Jim Broadbent is very entertaining and there is a believable child performance from Eliza Bennett. For me, the only two performances that didn't work were Sienna Guillory who was bland and dare I say sometimes irritating both in character and acting and (sadly) Andy Serkis who doesn't get anywhere near enough screen time to shine properly.While the flawed assets have enough magic, heart and charm to them, they are still flawed. The story structure(great idea by the way) and script are both disjointed overall, and some parts felt rushed such as the ending. The characters are likable too, but also under-developed and fall into cliché territory.Overall, enjoyable and charming but there is nothing really spectacular apart from some performances, the music and visuals. 6/10 Bethany Cox