I thoroughly enjoyed this, but it's missing that little extra something special which stops it from being rated higher.

'Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events' offers a lot and does a load of respectable things. Jim Carrey is the perfect actor to play the villain here, his performance is super even though I still think he had more in his locker to show off. Enjoyable nonetheless.

The two younger members of the cast, Liam Aiken and Emily Browning, are good in their corresponding roles of Klaus and Violet. I initially found the dialogue for toddler Sunny amusing, but it did get repetitive after a while. There's a couple of other parts that familiar people play nicely, namely Timothy Spall (Poe), Billy Connolly (Montgomery), Meryl Streep (Josephine) and Cedric the Entertainer (Constable) - Dustin Hoffman even appears for a cameo. Excellent overall casting, it must be said.

I even liked Jude Law, who I've (as of this review) always found more annoying than anything else. Here, he is terrific as Lemony Snicket himself - Law has an ideal voice for narration.

As you can see, there's a lot to be entertained by in this film. However, as noted at the top, there's just simply something that it is absent. I feel it should've been funnier and larger, with much more lustre and lure. Not incredibly far away from being an outstanding production, in truth.