All families are dysfunctional. But when your first foster parent tries to kill you, your second foster parent is an overzealous snake researcher, and your third foster parent is a hypochondriac, dysfunction suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.

Nevertheless, the three Baudelaire orphans in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events manage to endure; using their courage and ingenuity, they survive every mishap in the “series of unfortunate events” that comes their way. The children are constantly pursued by Count Olaf (Jim Carrey), the crafty villain who dons multiple disguises and comes up with outrageous plans to kill the Baudelaires, hoping to inherit their massive family fortune.

The adventures of the Baudelaire children were originally conceived in print. Lemony Snicket’s tales were the first to knock the popular Harry Potter series off the New York Times children’s best-seller list. Each of the ten installments in the series has made it onto that best-seller list, and the eleventh, most recent book was released in September 2004. The film version of Lemony Snicket is based upon the first three books: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room and The Wide Window.

Despite its dark plotline, the film is filled with humor. Lemony Snicket is more or less a children’s movie, but the humor should appeal to people of all ages. The dialogue is witty and ironic, and the actors play their characters charmingly. Jim Carrey is especially impressive as the evil yet strangely endearing Count Olaf, whose appearances in all his disguises are equally hilarious. Meryl Streep lives up to her legendary reputation in the role of the neurotic Aunt Josephine; she is as bemusing in her phobias as she is touching in her delusions. Jude Law, the voice of Lemony Snicket, provides a pleasant balance between soothing narrator tones and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm. The three Baudelaire children are compelling too, but—perhaps unsurprisingly, considering their dazzling co-stars—they are the least notable of the performers. Occasionally, their acting seems forced, perhaps due to a combination of inexperience and the rare instances of clumsy dialogue.

The costumes, sets and special effects are striking. The designers behind the scenes certainly succeeded in creating the Lemony Snicket aesthetic with eye-catching appeal. The costumes add to the fantastical ambience of the film without drawing too much attention away from the story or the acting. The sets—especially Aunt Josephine’s house balanced oh-so-precariously atop a cliff—are magnificent. The burned-down Baudelaire mansion is elegant, Count Olaf’s grimy house complements his slimy character perfectly and Curdled Cave fits seamlessly into the enchanting world of Lemony Snicket. (It’s no wonder the “look” of the buildings is so distinctive: Tim Burton’s set designer worked on this film.) The special effects are realistic and, in the film’s tenser scenes, fitfully frightening. Creatures such as the deadly viper and the infamous leeches are gruesomely life-like. And the action scenes—the destruction of Aunt Josephine’s house, a near-crash with a train—have a heart-stopping hyper-realism.

One caveat to the potential theater-goer: this movie is primarily aimed at children, so there is a certain degree of cornball moralizing that is to be expected. Nevertheless, the darker undertones and weighty themes should appeal to older audiences. Lemony Snicket has witty humor, aesthetic beauty, delightful characters and a certain “je ne sais quoi” that add up to a thoroughly enjoyable movie for all ages.