Jim Carrey was the best thing in Brad Silberling's adaptation of Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Unquestionably it was his maniacal, multi-faceted performance that ensured this gloomy fairytale went on to become a worldwide box office hit despite "weak links" in the story. He plays the villainous Uncle Olaf in pursuit of the orphaned Baudelaire children and their sizeable inheritance. It's available to buy on single disc, or two-disc Special Edition DVD.

What A Carrey On

Quite rightly the bulk of the special features section on disc one is devoted to Jim Carrey. The ironically titled Building A Bad Actor finds him exploring the possibilities for each of Olaf's evil incarnations, beginning with hair, makeup and costumes. Once he's found the look, Carrey is then let loose on a soundstage to improvise. (Surprisingly much of what he pulls out of the ether wound up in the final cut.) To see full versions of this rehearsal footage, check out Interactive Olaf and hold on to your ribs. An Easter egg in the Orphaned Scenes menu will also have you marvelling at this man's ability for off-the-cuff comedy. Altogether it's a fascinating insight into Carrey's creative process.

11 deleted scenes include more from Dustin Hoffman as The Critic and comedienne Jennifer Coolidge (best known for sitcom Joey) delivering a witty monologue as White Faced Woman #1. A whopping 4 reels of outtake footage also contain some wickedly funny moments, eg Baby Sunny nodding off in the middle of Meryl Streep's dialogue. Talk about your bad reviews!

Elsewhere on disc one is a featurette on the casting of The Baudelaire Children and two audio commentaries. Silberling puts on a serious face for the first track, but the more entertaining option finds him in the sound booth with "the real Lemony Snicket", a self-effacing pessimist who advises impressionable young viewers to, "Turn off this film and procure a basket of kittens for your enjoyment".

Double Trouble

If you fork out for the Special Edition, you'll get a second disc packed with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews on the making of Lemony Snicket. A Woeful World documentary runs at almost an hour, exploring the lavish sets in meticulous detail and following Silberling as he co-ordinates with his design team. He talks about "harkening back to Old Hollywood" using "painterly backdrops" to convey an eerie but alluring sense of artifice. Meanwhile Billy Connolly (as Uncle Monty) falls for the charms of his "very sexy" banana snake sidekick. Sadly nobody bothers to tell him that "she" is actually a "he".

Wildlife watchers can get up-close-and-personal with Monty's menagerie of reptiles in Incredibly Deadly Vipers. But even more frightening are two featurettes on Sunny, who turns out to be a creepy combination of real-life twins, robot technology and CG pixels. Be ready to hide behind the sofa for a nuts-and-bolts look at creating the animatronic baby whose range of movement extends to even the merest wiggle of an eyebrow. Caution: this featurette may induce nightmares.

The Terrible Fire and Trains, Leeches And Hurricanes featurettes expose yet more special effects wizardry while Violet's Functional Designs reveals how the props department were able to recreate some of Violet's offbeat inventions like the rock skimmer. On top of all this, there's an unusually in-depth look at sound design with an interactive segment focusing on the Terrible Train scene and the collapse of Aunt Josephine's house. You can also catch composer Thomas Newman in recording sessions for the spooky score.

Three Easter eggs (secreted in the Gruesome Galleries and Sinister Special Effects menus) offer more behind-the-scenes titbits, including Carrey's makeup tests and design notes on Olaf's All-Seeing Eye. In fact, much like The Eye, this generous Special Edition DVD has got all areas covered. If you loved the movie, this package will not leave you disappointed.

EXTRA FEATURES

Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events: Special Edition DVD is out to buy on Friday 27th May 2005.