What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Series of Unfortunate Events is a 2004 American traditionally animated black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling. It is a film adaptation of the book series of the same name by Lemony Snicket, covering the first three novels The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window. The film stars the voices of Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy, Timothy Spall, Catherine O'Hara, Billy Connolly, Cedric the Entertainer, Luis Guzmán, Jennifer Coolidge and Meryl Streep, as well as Jude Law as an live-action Lemony Snicket. In truth, Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American born writer Daniel Handler.

DreamWorks Pictures purchased the film rights to Daniel Handler's book series in 2000 and soon began development of a animated film with Barry Sonnenfeld attached to direct. Handler adapted the screenplay and courted Jim Carrey for Count Olaf. Sonnenfeld eventually left over budget concerns in January 2003 and Brad Silberling took over. Robert Gordon rewrote Handler's script and storyboarding started in November 2003.

A Series of Unfortunate Events received positive reviews, with many praising Carrey's performance, while some criticized its comical tone. The film also grossed $209 million worldwide.

Plot
After the brief appearance of The Littlest Elf which confused much of the audience, the film is narrated by Lemony Snicket, who occasionally appears in silhouette, writing the story on a typewriter from the interior of a clock tower.

Fourteen-year-old inventor Violet Baudelaire, her twelve-year-old brother Klaus, and their baby sister Sunny are orphaned when a fire burns down their house and kills their parents. Mr. Poe, who gives them this news, is a banker whose it becomes to find a guardian for the Baudelaires. He is also in charge of the large Baudelaire fortune, which Violet will inherit when she turns eighteen. He places them into the care of their new guardian, a villainous theater owner named Count Olaf who, along with his three henchanimals Lancy, Rascal and Battly, only wants their money, and makes Violet and Klaus do harsh chores, such as repainting the back porch and repairing the windows and abuses Sunny when she bites him. When the children are placed in a dusty bedroom with one small bed, they meet and befriend a grey mouse named Larry, who lives in a mouse hole in their room.

On the day Olaf receives full custody, he drives to a gas station and claims that he is buying soda, but it turns out Olaf parked the car directly on railroad tracks in hopes of it getting hit by a train. Thankfully, Violet and Larry are able to turn the direction of the train so it doesn't hit them. Mr. Poe then arrives at the scene and mistakes Sunny for driving the car. He then takes the children away, but Olaf an promises he will find them and kill anybody who will want adopt them.

Mr. Poe then sends the children to live with their uncle, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a cheerfully eccentric herpetologist with a well-stocked 'reptile room' full of exotic and often fictitious reptiles, who is planning a trip to Peru. Their stay with "Uncle Monty" is cut short when Olaf appears in disguise as a man named Stephano, a replacement for Monty's assistant Gustav (who was kidnapped and tied to a train by Olaf's hechcats). The Baudelaires see through the disguise instantly. They manage to communicate to Monty that Olaf is an imposter, but fail to impress upon their uncle the villain's true intention on him. Monty remains convinced that the supposed Stephano is a rival herpetologist come to plagiarize Monty's recent scientific discoveries. Olaf later murders Monty and frames a large and poisonous viper for the killing. As the disguised Olaf and his henchanimals (who are disguised as doctors) prepare to spirit the children away, Sunny reveals the snake's true gentle nature, and Olaf's plot is exposed. This persuades a skeptical Mr. Poe and a police inspector to accept Stephano's guilt, though not his true identity. Olaf and his henchanimals abandon their disguises and escape.

Events now take the children to the gloomy shores of Lake Lachrymose, where their aunt, Josephine Anwhistle, resides in a house perched precariously on the edge of a cliff overlooking the waters of the vast lake. She has numerous irrational fears, and yet lives in a house populated with many of those things of which she is terrified by - her fear of realtors prevents her from moving. The house is held up by stilts and includes a large window facing the lake. A room of photographs and documents apparently contains clues to the cause of the fire that killed the orphans' parents; Josephine, too, appears to know more than she is willing to reveal. Before the children can discover more, however, Olaf arrives once again, disguised as a sailor named Captain Sham, and quickly gains Josephine's confidence. She accompanies him back to her home, leaving the children alone to complete the day's shopping.

The orphans soon discover that Josephine has disappeared and the window smashed, leading the Baudelaires to believe that she has committed suicide. She leaves what is ostensibly a suicide note, but which is, in fact, a coded message telling them that she is hiding in Curdled Cave on the shore of the lake. As the children prepare to leave for the cave, the house is torn apart by a hurricane. The Baudelaires escape, eventually find Josephine, and attempt to make their way to safety. The deadly Lachrymose Leeches reach them first. Olaf and his henchanimals catch up with them, rescuing the Baudelaires but leaving Josephine at the mercy of the water and of the leeches to prevent her from revealing their designs on the orphans. Mr. Poe arrives, and returns the Baudalaire's to Olaf's custody, moved by Olaf's apparent dedication to the safety of the children.

Olaf and Violet are then immediately involved in a play called The Marvelous Marriage, which involves their characters being married. However, Olaf has set up the performance to be an actual legal marriage because the law states if relatives are married they are entitled to their spouses' money. Olaf enlists the help of his neighbor Justice Strauss to perform in the "play" and unwittingly officiate the marriage. Olaf explains to Violet that Sunny are being held hostage in a cage guarded by his henchanimals and if Violet does not say her "lines" or finds a loophole, Sunny will fall to her death. The ceremony goes as Olaf planned and he reveals that the marriage is legal, to the horror of the judge, actors and audience.

Klaus and Larry escape, battle and defeat Olaf's henchanimals, rescue Sunny and find a secret part of Olaf's estate. After adjusting an eye-shaped window, they realize that it was Olaf that caused their family mansion to catch fire. Klaus uses the window to burn the marriage certificate, foiling the Count's plans. Olaf and his henchanimals are tried for their actions and sentenced to be put through the hardships they had caused the children and a life sentence in prison.

Violet, Klaus and Sunny, acompanned by Larry, are taken to visit their old home one last time. As they observe the burned remains, a letter lost in the mail finally arrives and inside is a spyglass announcing their family's secret society. Though their future is unclear, despite the children's misfortune, they still have each other, thus making them "Very Fortunate Indeed".