Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ on Netflix
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Books
If you have not been so fortunate to read the book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket, you simply must go out to the bookstore or the library and begin reading this aloud to your children. A Series of Unfortunate Events, a series of books beginning with The Bad Beginning and ending with The End. As the title indicates, there are no happy endings . . . three young children, whose parents have died in an accidental fire are placed in the care of one miserable, unpleasant guardian, repeatedly!
Their first guardian, Count Olaf, is a wretched man who lives in a ridiculous dump of a home and is only after the enormous fortune the children’s parents have left them. He is the villain in this series who the children are constantly trying to escape. He is a master of disguises, but the children are vigilant and always on the lookout.
The oldest of the Baudelaire children is 14 year old Violet, an inventor who uses her sharp skills countless times to save herself and her siblings. The middle child and only boy is Klaus, an intelligent 12 year old who knows just about everything about everything and uses his wealth of knowledge to solve all the puzzles the siblings encounter.
The narrator in the books, Lemoy Snicket himself is hilarious and states perfectly how sad these children’s lives are and describes the events that occur in their lives in very literal terms. Whilst reading A Series of Unfortunate Events, you can simply visualize all that Lemony Snicket is telling you.
A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix
My daughter spied a new Netflix show, A Series of Unfortunate Events, to watch and immediately wanted to watch it and asked her siblings, my son and youngest daughter if they would like to watch as well. My son was doing homework and literally yelled at his sisters that they were not allowed, under any circumstances, to watch A Series of Unfortunate Events, without him. I myself wanted to watch this new Netflix series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, as well because I had spent so many hours reading these delightful books to all of my children over the past decade. The new Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events, premiered on Netflix Jan. 13.
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Season 1 on Netflix did not disappoint any of the fans of the books. I personally feel as if the actor choices were spot on for the characters. Neil Patrick Harris is brilliant as Count Olaf with just the right amount of ridiculousness and an all around terrifying aura about him.
The narrator selection on the Netflix episodes is Patrick Warburton. What a joy to my kids, as well as myself; to recognize him, or rather his voice. They recognized his voice right off from The Emperor’s Groove and I happen to think his delightfully boring voice is pleasantly perfect as the constantly interrupting narrator who tries in vain to get you to do anything other than continue to view what is occurring before your eyes. The narrator Warburton pops up now and then to let the viewer know how things are going or not going. You might find your children even learning new vocabulary words! There is one instance when Warburton does a wonderful job of explaining dramatic irony with the use of dramatic irony – something that Count Olaf simply cannot figure out.
The sets are magnificent and so very true to the books. My son, who thinks that everything is completely ruined when taken from book to movie, was very impressed and loved Count Olaf’s disgusting house and how true to character the characters in the Netflix series are to the characters in the books!
The actor selections for the supporting cast were, in my opinion, magnificent. Joan Cusack was fantastic as the judge and did a wonderful job of being the caring, friendly neighbor to the children. We have always wanted Justice Strauss to adopt all the Baudelaire children from The Bad Beginning.
The Baudelaire siblings spend all their time trying to escape Count Olaf’s evil clutches or convince a group of complete oaf adults that Count Olaf is really evil and trying to gain their fortune. Violet, Klaus and Sunny are convincing in their character portrayals as the destitute and desperate children who quite literally are escaping the grips of death at every turn. The unique skills that each child has, Violet the inventor, Klaus the book worm, and baby Sunny with razor sharp teeth, enables them to work together as a remarkable team to outmaneuver Count Olaf as they pass from one clueless and wicked guardian to the next. The second guardian of the Baudelaire children is the delightful Uncle Monty, a herpetologist. My girls were hoping against all hopes this would be the one guardian who would save them.
We haven’t quite made it all the way through season 1 of A Series of Unfortunate Events, on Netflix, but we know the Netflix series goes through Book 4,( The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window and The Miserable Mil). The first season of eight episodes covers the first four books. The Netflix series dedicated each of the first four books a two hour-long episode for the first season. My children and I are already excitedly waiting for Season 2. Next season, A Series of Unfortunate Events, there will be 10 episodes and the season will continue through book nine (The Carnivorous Carnival), which means the third season would be the final season.
If you’ve read the book series, you already know the Baudelaires don’t have a storybook ending. Viewers of the new Netflix series, will quickly come to realize and that the Baudelaires will never have a happy ending. But the sheer joy is watching their antics and all the buffoons who try to deter their lives. We are huge fans of Lemony Snicket’s A series of Unfortunate Events and are super satisfied with the Netflix adaptation!
Disclosure: This post is part of my involvement as a Netflix #StreamTeam Member. All opinions are my own. #Netflix Want to learn more about Netflix Streaming? Subscriptions start at $7.99/month. Images provided by Netfix and used with permission.