Inkheart

** - For a fantasy film to be truly enjoyable, it has to utilize the full promise of its ideas. The story behind “Inkheart” is that Brendan Fraser is one of the few people in the world who has the ability to make books come to life by reading them aloud. That premise – while somewhat problematic if one gives it some thought - is pretty interesting, and leaves open numerous possibilities to bring to life fictional characters from various books to interact with each other. Instead, this film features only a bunch of largely uninteresting characters from one made-up book and Toto from “The Wizard of Oz”. While it looks fairly nice and has some decent effects, the main plot line is rather mundane, and its inability to fulfill its promise is disappointing. That’s what happens when you aim a movie or book solely toward an immature audience. I’m still puzzled as to why Fraser was cast in the lead, since every other character in the film is British, including his wife and daughter.