‘Inkheart’

Rating: 6/10

Brendan Fraser is stepping aside from mummies and dinosaurs for a second and instead is playing a caring father in director Iain Softley’s latest film, “Inkheart.”

Mo, played by Fraser, is known as a silvertongue, meaning he can bring characters from books to life just by reading the words on the page. This is a treasured talent to Mo and his family, until one fictional character, Dustfinger, comes out of the book and Mo’s wife goes into the book.

For nine years, Mo and his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett) travel around Europe in search of a copy of the book, Inkheart, where her mother is trapped. This adventure suddenly turns for the worse when the characters from several different stories ban together in an evil plot to release a terrible monster from within the pages of Inkheart.

With another film about having to save the day, surprisingly, it’s not Fraser’s character who attempts to do good, but Bennett’s. Apparently and thankfully, Fraser does not always have to be the hero.

From the interesting plot to the fine acting, even if it does sound similar to last month’s “Bedtime Stories,” “Inkheart” combines the fantasy of “The Princess Bride” with the literary adventure of “Nim’s Island.”

Although the film is exciting, it’s a little too lengthy and will not keep young children engaged for the duration. For a PG-rated movie, it also contains some surprisingly frightening scenes.

Even though the overall story is predictable, the film is still clever and subtly entertaining. In this day and age when people refuse to open a book anymore, you can now cut the corners and see a film about a book.

Just don’t judge a book, or movie, by its cover, even if Fraser’s mug is on it.