Delightful films have been adapted from children's books. Sadly, this is not among them. Cornelia Funks's popular book has been turned into 110-minutes of confusing jumble - too many characters involved in too many situations that demand explanations and desperately need continuity (which screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire fails to supply, nor does director Iain Softley abet).
Near as I can figure, our two lead characters - Mo (Brendan Fraser, as if fighting an overdose of sleeping pills) and daughter, Meggie (Nanny McPhee, prototype of a "bright, young heroine") have the ability to read about characters in a book and cause them to come to life, but with a price; someone in real life must replace them in the bookland. Not only are American father & British daughter attempting to out-read their wife/mother, Resa (Brit Sienna Guillory) back to reality again, but so are dozens of other people, now living in exile in what appears to be a hideaway castle high in the Alps. Heading the Alpine characters is a less than convincing baddie, Capricorn (Aussie actor Andy Serkis) who pits all his less than convincing powers against Mo & Meggy; he and the rest want to get their lives reversed as well.

The problems in watching this Brit-made film are many: how does an American fit into the mix, how do people come & go and from where to where, how do they achieve a variety of clothing changes, from where do the various modes of transportation suddenly show up, what are all the magic displays supposed to be doing to further the action, - and so many more questions left unanswered that, with luck, only someone well versed with the original story might understand.

My feeling is that the director (who possesses a record for ineptitude) has approached this film with one plan in mind: in hopes of smoke-screening the script's defects, concentrate instead on exotic settings, special effects and rapid cutting, then move the action rapidly with a magician's "now-you-see-it-now-you-don't" technique and leave the cast free to play roles as each actor deems fit. The results are fascinating, but disastrously unclear. Kids (and parents) will leave with puzzled reactions. The razzle-dazzle was marvelous and elaborate, full of sound & furyŠ