The movie stars Brendan Fraser as Mo Folchart, a man with a very special power. Mo is joined by his daughter Meggie (Eliza Hope Bennett) while her mother is curiously missing.
Unknown to Mo he possesses the power of the silver tongue. It is a power where a person is able to bring storybook characters to life simply by reading a book aloud. This power appears at the beginning of the movie but we don't see the true effect of it until much later.
Along with that power is the power to hear books. As the movie opens we find Mo walking through a book store while stories whisper their words to him. He uses this ability to locate the one book he has been trying for years to find; Inkheart.
While looking through the copy of Inkheart he has found in the book store he glances at a few of the book's illustrations. Outside the store his daughter encounters the first of those characters, a ferret. The ferret is shortly joined by his master, a man named Dustfinger.
When Mo and Dustfinger meet it is obvious that the two of them have a history together. After a brief tussle Mo and Meggie escape and flee to the Italian mansion owned by his Aunt Elinor. As Dustfinger watches them leave he mutters that he was trying to help them.
Upon reaching Aunt Elinor's mansion we find her to be a great collector of books. We also learn that Mo is not the only one who has the power of the silver tongue in his family.
Shortly after arriving we see Dustfinger out in the rain watching the mansion. He finds Mo and tells him that Mo left him no choice but to go to Capricorn.
Capricorn is another character from the Inkheart book, someone Mo pulled out twelve years ago. It seems that Capricorn has need of a silver tongue and Mo is just the one that he wants. Right after Mo and Dustfinger have their little reunion several of Capricorn's men break into the house and kidnap Mo, Meggie and Aunt Elinor. Unlike Dustfinger most of these men have words tattooed across their faces and bodies.
The special effects were excellent and not over used. There were no special effects just for the sake of having them in this film. The acting was excellent (my wife was very impressed with Helen Mirren's work as Aunt Elinor) and the plot unfolded nicely.
This movie is based on the book Inkheart, a book that I have not read. If you are a fan of the book you may or may not enjoy the changes required to bring the story to the silver screen. If you have not read the book and enjoy a good fun movie with the family then go and see this one.