Pros: Fun overall
Cons: Gets too frantic half way through
The Bottom Line:
Very fun concept
One twist should have come later
Kids will still enjoy
Mostly Fun, but too Frantic
I confess. I haven’t
kept up with Chris Grabenstein’s middle grade novels, but I did read his book Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library a
couple of years back. When I saw that
Nickelodeon was going to make it into a movie, I immediately wanted to watch
it. While I think kids will likely
really enjoy the results, I found it a little flat.
As the movie opens, we meet Kyle (Casey Simpson), one of the
many kids in town who are addicted to the scavenger hunt games that Mr.
Lemoncello (Russell Roberts) creates. In
fact, he might be a little too addicted.
When he learns that Mr. Lemoncello is going to let 12 lucky
twelve-year-olds into his new library overnight to play games, he knows he has
to be included.
Sure enough, Kyle is selected, and he and his fellow
contestants find themselves in a race to solve puzzles to figure out how to
escape from the library. Can they do
it? Or will things get out of hand
first?
The twelve kids begin to be eliminated fairly quickly, so we
don’t have to keep track of all of them for the entire movie, fortunately. The core kids do fall into types instead of
real characters, but this is an adult looking at the movie. As a kid, I wouldn’t have minded in the
slightest, and they didn’t have time to do more in the 68 minute flick.
In many ways, this movie comes across as a book themed
version of Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory. Instead of chocolate, we’ve
got great themed rooms that are filled with adventures and puzzles for the kids
to solve. We don’t get enough
information to solve most of the puzzles ourselves, but there isn’t time. The characters solve them that quickly. And it is a pleasure to see references to
stories I love pop up.
And yet, about half way through, we get something that
happens that changes everything. I get
that it is supposed to up the tension and stakes for the characters. However, it leaves the rest of the movie
feeling frantic. If it had happened
closer to the end of the film, I think I would have appreciated it more.
The acting is good.
This isn’t going to win any awards, but it works for this movie and the
universe they are trying to create.
Likewise, the special effects are great and add to the fun of the movie.
I suspect that my complaints with the film are because I’m
not the target age. Kids will definitely
enjoy spending time watching Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.
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