Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

This film is a holdover from years having an unhealthy man-crush on Jim Carrey. I loved him on In Living Color, Ace Ventura was great and I still believe he is a great dramatic actor when he wants to be. With Lemony Snickets, Jim Carrey reminds us that he is also great at playing the villain.
Lemony Snicket's is a kids film that does everything it can to convince you that it is not a kids film. Narrated by Jude Law, the audience is frequently reminded that this is not a film about happy little bunnies but a tale a 3 siblings who lose there parents and then find themselves continually pitted against Jim Carrey's Count Olaf character who seems to be after the kids inheritance.
In facing off with Count Olaf, each sibling brings a unique skill to their survival as these kids soon learn that Count Olaf will not easily quit. After escaping Olaf's initial attempt to adopt them the kids are sent to live with distant relatives who provide clues to the life and eventually to the cause of death of their parents. With each stop we see Olaf arrive with a new costume which the kids easily see through while the adults in the story seem oblivious to it.
Since the movie was first released I have often wondered and I have been disappointed that no sequel has come since. It did well enough at the box office and for Carrey's part I know he said at the time that he liked the idea of playing Count Olaf because it would give him the opportunity to play a variety of characters. In this installment Carrey is great to this end because he is able to really dive into each character and have fun with it. I thought the child actors involved in this film all did fine, but if they were recast in order to do another live-action version of these stories I would be fine with that. I know some felt the material here was too dark for a kids film and I certainly wouldn't show it to my 4 year old yet, but for pre-teens this is a quality and age appropriate in my opinion. While this isn't great, it's very entertaining and is Jim Carrey's best work since it was released.