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Inkheart

Play trailer Poster for Inkheart PG Released Jan 23, 2009 1h 45m Kids & Family Adventure Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
38% Tomatometer 146 Reviews 45% Popcornmeter 100,000+ Ratings
Mo and his daughter, Meggie, have the ability to bring storybook characters to life just by reading aloud. That gift backfires when he accidentally summons Capricorn, the evil villain of the novel, "Inkheart." Mo and Meggie must find a way to send him back to his literary realm, but the task will not be easy, for the malefactor likes his new world and will not leave it voluntarily.
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Inkheart

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Critics Consensus

Heavy on cliches and light on charm, this kid-lit fantasy-adventure doesn't quite get off the ground.

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Critics Reviews

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Evan Williams The Australian Readers who want to exercise their imaginations may prefer to stick to the written word. If a story gets boring, you can always skip a few pages and move on. In the cinema there isn't much choice. Rated: 3/5 Apr 10, 2009 Full Review Sandra Hall Sydney Morning Herald The message is so muddied by the film's dizzying changes in pitch and tone that a lot of young readers aren't going to know what to think. Rated: 3/5 Apr 10, 2009 Full Review Ann Hornaday Washington Post The aesthetics of Inkheart are part of what make it such a surprisingly enjoyable experience to watch. Jan 23, 2009 Full Review Joe Lipsett Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr Podcast A significantly condensed, if slightly sleepy adaptation of Cornelia Funke's bestseller. Fraser is channeling Rick from The Mummy, Mirren is here for the paycheck and Serkis is miscast. The FX holds up well, though! Rated: 2/5 Jun 3, 2025 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review A good fantasy book, or one of the movies this one steals from, would keep the family much more entertained. Rated: 1/4 Dec 15, 2023 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins The basic plot is as convoluted and faulty as time travel, and without very finite ground rules, the details and conclusion feel contrived. Rated: 5/10 Nov 28, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Diego P The premise is very interesting but the resolution is very silly instead of rewriting reality, wouldn't it be better to stick to your internal logic and just summon things from books and that jokingly makes the story easier, I say I can't be the only one who thought about reading the Arabian Nights and bringing the Genie from the lamp, or could I? Well although he is not omnipotent like in the Disney movie, he does have infinite wishes and divine power. Or read The Chronicles of Narnia several times in the part of Aslan or the Pevensie Brothers and summon them. Read the Wizard of Oz and summon the Good Witch who seems to be able to move between worlds. Read The Iliad / The Aeneid / The Trojan War and summon heroes like Achilles, Hector, Aeneas. Heretics... Legendary warriors with superhuman strength and combat experience, Arthurian legends, and bring Excalibur, Merlin, Arthur, the knights. Read The Lord of the Rings and bring The Fellowship of the Ring, or The Hobbit and bring only the Dwarves. For God's sake, Gandalf, a divine spirit! Or simply read the most influential book in human history and bring King David, Solomon, Angels, Jesus, or even make a deal with a demon... Or if you're dumb enough not to think about any of the above, read Sherlock Holmes and solve the mystery of how to bring the characters back to the books and how the powers work. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/18/25 Full Review Nicole B I feel sad seeing the reviews but I will always remember Inkheart as a wonderful movie and my 11 year old self will always tell stories of how this movie inspired me to read books. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/29/25 Full Review Danny R Even with an all star cast, the film is brought down by the no talent portion of the cast, Rafi Gavron, Roger Allam, Jamie Foreman, Steve Speirs and John Thomson, then theres the escape in the storm scene were Resa is trapped behind bars she could clearly fit though, Lizzo and Kevin James cuddling could fir though that gap, and then there is the worst of the lot Andy Serkis, he has as much talent as a shoelace and even less charisma, even with a poor script for example Capricorn says " you are going you love my old friend and by love, I mean cower in terror from" in the hands of a good actor the might have been more convincing, saying that that line in the hands of 1000 year old dead rotting corpse would have been more convincing than Serkis Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 04/20/25 Full Review Qadir M At least, this movie inspired to read books. Though I was too little to recognize that the book, Inkheart, is... not of those books that I look up to. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/21/25 Full Review cinema f “Every story ever written is just waiting to become real.” I love Brandon Fraser and fantasy so this mix was perfect. I loved Fraser in The Mummy and he’s amazing in this. 5/5 stars. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/26/24 Full Review Twiggy H Pushing pass the fact it's quite boring throughout for a total faction film, what doesn't make sense is why any writer of any fictional book would use an already existing word for a character.. i don't know what the writer hated about 'Capricorns' but to name a fictional character of a certain 'constellation of stars' is just weird. Might have to find out what starsign the writer is and see how that twit likes it. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 09/11/24 Full Review Read all reviews
Inkheart

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Movie Info

Synopsis Mo and his daughter, Meggie, have the ability to bring storybook characters to life just by reading aloud. That gift backfires when he accidentally summons Capricorn, the evil villain of the novel, "Inkheart." Mo and Meggie must find a way to send him back to his literary realm, but the task will not be easy, for the malefactor likes his new world and will not leave it voluntarily.
Director
Iain Softley
Producer
Iain Softley, Diana Pokorny, Cornelia Funke
Screenwriter
David Lindsay-Abaire
Distributor
Warner Bros.
Production Co
New Line Cinema
Rating
PG (Fantasy Adventure Action|Brief Language|Some Scary Moments)
Genre
Kids & Family, Adventure, Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 23, 2009, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$17.3M
Runtime
1h 45m
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