Short Attention Span Summary (SASS)1. Helen Grace moves into the Spiderwick Estate with her three kids, Mallory, Simon and Jared. Simon and Jared are twins (played by the impressive Freddie Highmore)
2. It doesn't take the kids long to find a secret room, a locked chest and a book marked "Do NOT read"
3. You can guess what happens next
4. Up pops a tiny Brownie named Thimbletack (Martin Short) who changes into a Boggart when riled up.
5. He gets riled up a lot
6. There's an evil Ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) who commands an army of Goblins, and really, really wants the aforementioned book
7. The Ogre can change his appearance, and is at his most frightening when he looks like Nick Nolte.
8. During the machinations and shenanigans to protect the book, the kids meet a scene stealing Hobgoblin named Hogsqueal (Seth Rogen) who has a talent for expectorating and a penchant for bipedal, endothermic vertebrate animals that lay eggs (also known as birds)
9. The kids set off on a quest to find the author of the book, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn)
10. When they get back, they have to quickly work out a strategy for repelling Goblins and an Ogre who looks like the Grinch on steroids.
11. Exciting yet somewhat disturbing altercation ensues
12. Just desserts are served for the grand finale.
The movie is based on the five books that make up The Spiderwick Chronicles, but barely touches book three, Lucinda's Secret and never touches book four, The Ironwood Tree. There are a few small differences, but for the most part the movie captures the spirit of the series.
Relatively short, it's ideal for kids from around ten or so, as there are some mildly scary scenes and one close to the end that could be disturbing until the twist is revealed.
It's also recommended that you get the series for your young `uns. The books are short, easy to read and full of magical and fantastical adventures. Don't forget the follow-up The Nixie's Song (Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1), and the soon to be released A Giant Problem (Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles)
The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles)
The Seeing Stone (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 2)
The Wrath of Mulgarath (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 5)
Amanda Richards, June 18, 2008
"The Spiderwick Chronicles" is a surprisingly well done movie. For a movie that covers five books, there isn't a feeling that much was lost in the translation. There is a lot of action that keeps the moving quickly. The child actors do a good job in the roles, especially Highmore in dual roles. The story is not complex, but is not simple either. Plus, it deals with serious issues like divorce, a topic that many kids will relate to. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is an excellent move for kids from about 6-7 on up to adults. I highly recommend this film.
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The Grace family moves into an old family estate, long uninhabited or so they think. In fact the house has an inhabitant. More to the point, the woods around the house have their own trolls and gnomes, unfriendly ones, who want something that's inside the house.So starts this kids' fantasy, with a big element of "the grownups just don't get it." In this case, young Jared not only finds that thing that the invisible ouside beings want, he also perceives their threat first. A kid-empowerment fantasy ensues, with the grownups (including a teen sister in a half-grownup kind of role) finally catching on just barely in time.
If you want a bit of fantasy without overt violence (or not much), and with people keeping their clothes on, you came to the right place. There's a suitably scary buildup at the end, with some great CGI effects like those toad-like outside beings. Maybe it's not memorable, but it's fun anyway.
-wiredweird, reviewing the theatrical release
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Without boring you with a long drawn out review, I just wanted to say it's a wonderful tale. It's a fastasy adventure for all ages.Want Spiderwick Chronicles (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2008) Discount?
Condensing 5 books into one film can hurt storylines and make for lots of undeveloped characters. But the archetypes in Spiderwick are so familiar (like the abbreviated Potter movies) that it is less of a disadvantage than you would think. We, as objective movie viewers have to let go of the expectation for the Holy Grail of the perfect book-to-film translation and face that the mediums are apples and oranges. This is an easy task for me this time because I haven't read any of the Spiderwick series. But having said that, my children and I, enjoy the film. The look of the "world" created in the spirit of the books were originally stylized enough to make it a departure from the world of Hogwarts (which is no small accomplishment when you also have trolls and griffins.Typical of the archetypes of the genre, you have the child-outsider of a broken (or bent) home who blunders into a magic world, along with quirky, sometimes ill-mannered, but ultimately well-meaning siblings and finally the single parent who doesn't believe a word-of it. The kid opens a book he shouldn't (like who would read a book that has "Do not open" on the cover, it should have read: don't open infested with Lice!" that would have kept `em out!) and then spends the film trying to make things right and bonding with his estranged family.
Production is pretty eye-candy using visual designers of the Henson school of creature making. John Horner (the not-Williams) composes a face paced soundtrack that matches the speed of the story and slows appropriately of the sappier moments of the movie. The cast is a watchable bunch of not-overly attractive kids, along with some voice cameos like Martin Short and Nick Nolte, not without distinction, plays the badie (physically sometimes) well enough.
We enjoyed the film and, if there isn't higher praise than this let me know, we were inspired to check-out the Spiderwick Chronicles book series at our local library to fill in all the plot holes.
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