Inkheart (2009)

My first movie of 2009. Almost had a heart attack right after I bought my ticket because I misplaced it. In my wallet. Boy, was my face red then.

*spoilers*

Brendan Fraser plays Mo, this guy who can bring fictional characters out of storybooks just by reading them out loud. Unfortunately, he didn't know that when that happens, someone from the real world goes into the storybook. And that was what happened to his wife.

Fast forward 12 years, and he's travelling around the world with his daughter, looking for 'Inkheart', the book he last read aloud from, so that he could read his wife back out. He finally finds the book (it's really rare), when he's betrayed by Dustfinger (from 'Inkheart') who was read out, but now wants in (Mo refuses to do so), to Capricorn, the villain from 'Inkheart'. Bear with me here for a bit, I know my explanation's complicating.

Capricorn's reader Darius has a bad stutter (the characters are read out of books incomplete), so he wants Mo for world domination and stuff, but not before he destroys Mo's copy of 'Inkheart'. Kicking himself, Dusty helps them (Mo, his daughter Meggie, his grandaunt Elinor, and Farid, a boy read out from something reminiscent of '1001 Arabian Nights') escape. Turns out, Mo didn't have to worry about reading his wife Resa out, 'cuz she already WAS out; she's working in the kitchens as a maid. She doesn't have a voice, though, 'cuz she's incomplete. Dusty knew about her, but didn't tell, 'cuz a huge-ass tornado (from 'The Wizard of Oz') was wreaking havoc.

So they head to Italy to find the author of Inkheart, hoping that he would have a copy of the book. He does, everyone meets the author, and poor Dusty finds out that he dies in the end of the book, saving his pet ferret Gwin. Dusty finally tells Mo that Resa is already out of the book and back at Cap's castle, Mo leaves Meggie with Fenoglio (the author), and with Dusty, heads back to Cap's lair.

Meggie finds out that she herself is also a Silvertongue, so Cap's henchmen rounds them up back to his castle. Cap wants her to read out The Shadow (from 'Inkheart'; part of his world domination gig) which is this large black shadow thing that goes around eating people and stuff. It's definitely not good.

So in the end, Meggie writes out her version of the events onto her forearm (it's quite thrilling, actually), got The Shadow to kick Cap's ass, and manages to send everyone but Dusty and Farid back into their respective storybooks (they were too late on the scene). Resa gets her voice back, and Mo reads Dusty back into Inkheart, where he's finally reunited with his wife. All is well, as Gwin was left in the real world, so it's most likely that Dusty probably won't die at the end of the book.

Even though it was kinda slow at the beginning, I liked 'Inkheart'. I especially enjoyed the part Paul Bettany was shirtless (I've to admit, that took me off-guard. Even though I'd seen The Da Vinci Code). But that aside, I love books, and I had a lot of fun doing the 'which character belongs to which book' routine (yes, I get entertained easily). The cinematography was lovely, Toto was so bloody fricken' adorable, and I enjoyed the storyline with its twists and stuffs (not being sarcastic here).

Now, to get the book xD