Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events on DVD.

There is kind of an unwritten rule when it comes to storytelling. It goes along the lines that you can do really terrible things to children as long as everything works out for them in the end. 

Yeah, sure, kill their parents. Give them a disease. Steal their dog. Whatever you want, but you had better close things up with a new guardian, a miracle cure and Fluffy reunited. 

Daniel Handler, or Lemony Snicket as he is also known, tosses this bit of foolery aside. After all, in the real world things don't always end up the way we hope they should. 

And so it is with the Baudelaire children. About five minutes into the movie they become the Baudelaire orphans and that is just the beginning of their suffering. 

Unfamiliar with the books on which the movie is based, I did a little background research first. The books, it turns out, are so dreary that the author wrote a warning for the first book's jacket telling people that they probably wouldn't like it. A similar warning begins the film. 

And those who go in looking for the classic formula based on the rule that everything works out in the end probably won't like this movie. I've also heard from ardent fans of the books who feel slighted by the movie, but that always happens when a treasured book is adapted for film. 

For all its darkness and variation from the source material, screenwriter Robert Gordon and director Brad Silberling have created a film gem worthy of much praise. 

What is immediately noticeable about the film is its palate. The grey-blue hues used create a somber watercolor effect that instantly sets the mood for the rest of the unfortunate events. 

The movie was also made on more than 70 sets with the end result being an incredibly deep world. We get to see big cities, country estates and even a house by the sea. Each setting is unique and builds onto the underlying theme that bad things can happen anywhere.