“I prefer a story that has the good sense to stay on the page, where it belongs,” Helen Mirren’s character Elinor proclaims in the fantasy film Inkheart, and I couldn’t agree more. Whatever magic that existed on the pages of Cornelia Funke’s novel, from which the film was adapted, has mostly been lost in translation.

The premise is intriguing enough; Mortimer Folchart (Brendan Fraser) has the gift of being able to pull characters out of books and into reality. When reading his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennet) a bed time story, Mortimer accidently brings to life an assortment of shady folk from the story, one being the selfish fire-jugglerDustfinger (Paul Bettany) and another the evil Capricorn (Andy Serkis).  Whilst Dustfinger longs to return home to the novel, Capricorn has a grand old time in reality, taking over a castle in the mountains of Italy.  Greedy for wealth and power, he kidnaps Mortimer and his family, forcing him to ‘read to life’ his selfish desires.

But don’t judge a book by its cover; Inkheart isn’t nearly captivating enough for young teens or adults. The limitless potential of the premise is hardly utilised, falling back on the use of genre clichés to link together underwhelming snippets of action. We never are given a good look into the fairytale land often referred to, which is clearly where all the magic is hiding. The beautiful Italian backdrop does attempt to fill the void, but what a fantasy film needs do to is transport its audience to a place beyond the confines of reality, something that Inkheart struggles to do.

 

Aside from a colourfully nasty Andy Serkis as Capricorn, the characters pulled out of the literary world aren’t any fun. Ironic considering the fanciful novelist who is accredited for creating them is perhaps the film’s most enjoyable character, portrayed by Jim Broadbent. Eliza Bennet as the young protagonist Meggie also hits her mark, as does Helen Mirren as the snobbish Aunt, despite being underused. Letting the team down is Brendan Fraser; his boyish face usually oozes charisma, but here he just looks plain bored.

Which is kind of how the audience looked too.

Inkheart opens across Australia on April 2nd. Click here to find local session times.

Follow the author Anders Wotzke on Twitter.