Inkheart

‘Inkheart’ is the perfect vehicle for Brendan Fraser.

He’s so good playing an everyman thrust into incredible situations.

Of course those mummy movies come to mind.

Cornelia Funk wrote the novel and insisted that he star in the movie version, over suggestions by producers of other stars.

In ‘Inkheart’ he plays a father gifted or cursed with the unusual ability to read a story and pull out one of the characters from the book into this dimension, this world, provided someone from here goes into the novel.

This leads to a furious adventure co-starring Paul Betannay from “A Curious Mind.“

Betannay plays Dustfinger, able to conjure up fire, and is one of the characters the reader had exported from a novel, but who wants to return to his own world where his wife awaits him.

Dame Helen Mirren easing into older character roles plays Fraser’s persnickety aunt living in a remote Italian villa filled with rare books she refers to as her children.

And Eliza Bennett acquits herself well as Fraser’s daughter.

Now when one of the villains of a book he’d read years before refuses to return to the pages and instead wreak havoc in this world, the adventure kicks in.

So do the special effects.

“Inkheart pulls no punches when it comes to special effects, scurrilous villains and a sense of adventure. Dame Helen Mirren’s a boost to the story in a supporting role. And even if you’ve seen Brendan Fraser in one too many such films, it’s still a welcome lift during this dreary winter season,” said NBC News Film Critic Jeffrey Lyons.