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Inkheart

Inkheart (2008)

tomatometer

39

Average Rating: 5.1/10
Reviews Counted: 142
Fresh: 55 | Rotten: 87

Heavy on cliches and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn't quite get off the ground.

24

Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 22

Heavy on cliches and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn't quite get off the ground.

audience

50

liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 162,582

My Rating

Movie Info

Author Cornelia Funke's best-selling children's novel comes to vivid life on the big screen with this family-friendly tale about a bookbinder whose storytelling skills possess the curious power to transport the characters he speaks about into the real world. When a nefarious villain from a bedtime story that the father is currently reading to his daughter emerges to kidnap the stunned storyteller, it's up to the young girl and her adventurous friends -- both real and imaginary -- to bring dad

Jun 23, 2009

$17.3M

Warner Bros. Pictures/New Line Cinema

Cast

All Critics (143) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (88) | DVD (11)

The aesthetics of Inkheart are part of what make it such a surprisingly enjoyable experience to watch.

January 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[Has] plenty of thrills, a smart although oft-confusing script, delightful scenery-chewing scenes from stalwarts like Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent and Andy Serkis, and a gorgeous high-concept visual style.

January 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Seemingly intended as a celebration of the power of books, it's an occasionally incoherent, sleep-inducing picture that reduces narrative to mere mechanics.

January 23, 2009 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Over and over again, characters in Inkheart wax eloquent on the power of books. But there's nothing in the movie as haunting or as compelling as the sound they make when they speak for themselves.

January 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comment
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A flea market of fairy tales and hocus-pocus, Inkheart makes as much sense as an inkblot.

January 23, 2009 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comments (4)
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The overqualified cast gives its all, but logical lapses and sober-sided direction siphon off the fun.

January 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | Comment
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Cobbled-together fantasy about a dad who can "read" characters in and out of books.

August 15, 2011 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International

Kind of a NeverEnding Story-lite, Inkheart never makes full use of its strengths. The ideas about reality and fiction have already been explored better elsewhere, even in light family films.

March 27, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net | Comment
ComingSoon.net

I will admit that I enjoyed this film better on home video than I did in the theater, and that might have simply been because I knew what to expect from it.

September 21, 2010 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

Brendan Fraser's boyish face usually oozes charisma, but here he just looks plain bored. Which is kind of how the audience looked too.

August 1, 2009 Full Review Source: Moviedex | Comment
Moviedex

If there's a problem for me with Inkheart, it is one of scope. This feels like it should be an epic movie, but it's not.

June 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | Comment
Aisle Seat

...don't expect it to capture everybody's imagination. (Blu-ray Edition)

June 24, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

For all its problems, it's a sweet, clever work.

June 23, 2009 Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | Comment
DVDTalk.com

When you have to question every other scene and a ferret steals the show, you know you're in trouble.

June 20, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

As far as movies based on books about books go, it's anything but a pageturner.

May 12, 2009 Full Review Source: SFX Magazine | Comments (2)
SFX Magazine

Readers who want to exercise their imaginations may prefer to stick to the written word. If a story gets boring, you can always skip a few pages and move on. In the cinema there isn't much choice.

April 10, 2009 Full Review Source: The Australian | Comment
The Australian

The message is so muddied by the film's dizzying changes in pitch and tone that a lot of young readers aren't going to know what to think.

April 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | Comment
Sydney Morning Herald

Una aventura entretenida sobre todo para público adolescente, y para todo aquel que haya disfrutado alguna vez de un buen libro de fantasía.

April 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | Comment
Uruguay Total

Gaping plot holes aside, Inkheart is a lovely little film, aimed at the bookish among us, and peppered with a love of the literary.

April 4, 2009 Comment
Screenwize

It's a familiar tale, but one told with gusto, wit and visual flare...

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | Comment
Time Out Sydney

A diverting excursion into fantasy gothic territory.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National | Comment
MovieTime, ABC Radio National

This adventure-fantasy film doesn't have the special effects depth of a Lord Of The Rings movie, nor the charm of the Harry Potter franchise, but it is still quite enjoyable.

April 3, 2009 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | Comment
FILMINK (Australia)
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Inkheart

I have not read the original source material but the movie has a nice wholesome quality with good direction, well used but not overused CGI. I would say a much better job of adapting a fantasy book to big screen than others, IE things like the Seeker Dark Is Rising or even Goodkinds TV series. Overall I enjoyed the

June 6, 2008
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

It's a family friendly tale about the joys of reading (and because of that many characters from the classic children's library show up and put in an appearance) but the subjective feeling of joy is somehow missing, much like one of those TimeLife commercials selling classic rock packages to baby boomers (" ... and who

March 13, 2012
moonrivers

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for Inkheart

January 22, 2009:
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This week at the movies, we've got living literature (Inkheart, starring Brendan Fraser and Eliza...

January 22, 2009:
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