‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ Lives up to the Book Series and the Title

Patrick Regan

“A Series of Unfortunate Events” makes its case fairly clear from the outset. Look away. This message isn’t just driven home by “author” Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton) in his introductions and narration, but in the theme song itself. Sung by Neil Patrick Harris (who also portrays the series antagonist Count Olaf), the opening theme, when combined with Snicket’s narration, sets the tone of the show immediately and nails it to that of the book. This is a delightfully tragedy/comedy, where the sorrows are so great as to come out the other side and become funny.

“A Series of Unfortunate Events” is the story of the three Baudelaire children: inventive Violet (Malina Weissman), studious Klaus (Louis Hynes) and infant Sunny (Presley Smith). Orphaned by a tragic fire, they found themselves bounced from protective guardian to protective guardian in a series of the title’s unfortunate events, always pursued by the villainous Count Olaf, desperately grabbing for the family fortune and always appearing in a variety of different disguises.

The original novel dealt heavily in deadpan and metanarrative humor that never spoke down to children, and the Netflix show, written by Daniel Handler, (Snicket’s real-life alter-ego) continues the same, doing heroic work in adapting it to its new format – Lemony Snicket makes oblique references to network executives he answers to, while Count Olaf frequently makes jokes about enjoying long-form television and streaming TV.

The direction, particularly the art direction, also helps set up a strange, Edward Gorey-style world where sorrow is expected. Director Barry Sonnenfeld’s experience on “The Addams Family” and “Pushing Daises” is heavily in evidence. This is a hyper-stylized world where anything can happen. There are several great gags with Count Olaf and his henchmen’s modern day walkie-talkies, but they’re a bit incongruous with a later character’s use of a giant Wes Anderson-style old school walkie-talkie.

True praise needs to be given to the actors, however. Warburton and Harris are standouts, although it’s hard not to draw comparisons between Harrison and Jim Carrey, who played the role in the film adaptation. While you can certainly see some of Carrey’s performance in Harris, the latter plays the role a little quieter when Count Olaf is switching from being absurd to being genuinely intimidating. His Olaf is a great deal more menacing and quick to violence than Carrey’s, which may or may not work depending on your speed.

Of course this is all backed up by a powerful rotating supporting cast, especially Olaf’s henchmen who are given far more to do in this version. It’s also where the largest changes to the book come up – the development of the supporting cast means that some of the book’s secrets are fleshed out earlier. This is most notable with Lemony Snicket, who is revealed to be an actual character with his own story and arc much earlier than the book does. It’s fortunate that Patrick Warburton is such a delight to watch in it.

Tragically, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” premieres on Netflix on Jan. 13