Defying the recession, family fantasy flicks have experienced quite a boom in recent years, energized by the success of films featuring Harry Potter, Frodo and Aslan. Moviemakers are turning to popular children's books as sources of inspiration, a trend that continues with the recently-released Inkheart starring Brendan Fraser.

 

Based on the popular series by Cornelia Funke, Inkheart centers on a 12-year old girl Meggie (Eliza Bennett) and her book-binder father Mortimer (Fraser), who travel the globe repairing books and searching for a copy of the novel Inkheart. It's quickly revealed that Mortimer is a “Silvertongue,” a person holding the supernatural power of bringing fictional characters to life by reading their story. When characters come out, humans are sucked in, which is what happened to Mortimer's wife when he first read the novel to his young daughter.

 

Villains escape, of course, complicating matters, along with the anti-hero Dustfinger (Paul Bettany) and Mortimer's aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren). Good battles evil, all while paying tribute to children's imaginations that are sparked through the world of literature (it's more than a tad ironic that the series is moving to the big screen).

 

Purists might scoff at Fraser's penchant for appearing in these types of films, but others could rightfully argue the guy knows his family-friendly niche and plays it well (no one seems to look down their nose at Johnny Depp's continuing Tim Burton escapades). It's also a treat to see Helen Mirren camping it up again after last year's National Treasure sequel.

 

Celebrating the power of a story and imagination is a clever premise, even though the film could be described as The Neverending Story-meets-The Last Action Hero-meets-Jumanj with a dash of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Preschool kids might be fearful of some of the creatures, which include the flying monkeys from Oz (along with adorable Toto), but it still seems well-suited for a family night out.

DeWayne Hamby is the associate editor of Christian Retailing and a New Man reviewer. Check out his blog at dewaynehamby.com.