The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition)

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) Review

The Spiderwick Chronicles released in Feb/08 is based on the first five books about Spiderwick written by Holly Black and Tony DiTierlizzi.There have been two series of books with the first five,four companion pieces and three more in a newer series.They are all enchanting pieces and this film adaption does the first series a certain amount of justice,considering it condensed the t five novels into one.The acting is very good and the pace never lets up throughout.
The story involves the Grace family who move into an old New England house once owned by their Aunt Lucinda(Joan Plowright);who now resides in a local sanitarium.Jared and his twin brother Simon(played both wonderfully by Freddie Highmore) are total opposites;Jared the forceful one while his brother Simon is the timid and meek one.Jared doesn't want to be there while Simon and sister Mallory(Sarah Bolger)are trying to make the best of things.When strange things start to happen(possessions are taken and/or broken) the blame goes squarely on Jared who they think is acting out;but no one believes he is innocent.
When Jared hears a knock in the wall but no one is around he finally gets his proof.He follows the noise upward through a dumbwaiter to the attic.In the attic he finds a book called the Field Guide to the Fantastical World around You,by the former owner Arthur Spiderwick,who went missing years before.The noise turns out to have been a small creature called a Brownie.If he is provoked he turns into a Bogart who can only be assuaged by honey,which returns him to a Brownie.Of course he becomes upset several times throughout the movie but his main duty,as set down by Arthur Spiderwick(David Strathairn),is to protect the book.
As things progress his brother and sister come to believe and see what Jared sees.There is a ring of salt around all around the windows and a ring of stones around the house.This is to keep the evil creatures that vie to take possession of the book,away from the house.The Brownie gives Jared a round stone with glass in it with which to see the unseen and when he looks out to the outer perimeter of the house,beyond the stones,he sees a myriad of different creatures all trying to get passed the barrier.When his brother Simon gets captured by the creatures he sets out to rescue him.He meets up with a hobgoblin called Hogsqueal who spits in his face and gives him the "sight";the ability to see the fantastical world around him without the round stone.Hogsqueal loves to eat birds,which will come in handy later on.He also sees Mulgrath a shape shifting ogre who is bound and determined to take over the world.When Mulgrath realizes he has the wrong brother he sends him back to get the book.He is followed and Jared and Simon run back,barely making it beyond the stone barrier.
The brothers and Molly try and formulate a plan.They will try and seek out old Aunt Lucinda in the nearby home to get her advice.Without the knowledge of the Brownie or anyone,Jared smuggles part of the field guide out to the sanitarium with him.There they find their old Aunt living alone with many faeries who supply her with food and company.Jared tells her what has happened and to her shock he shows her the part of the book.She tells him the book was written by her father who disappeared many years before when she was very young(6 1/2)and who never returned.They must seek out Arthur Spiderwick who is not dead but being held by the faerie-like Sylphs.He is the only one who can help them to destroy the book.
Before they leave however one of Mulgrath's goblins reaches through and grabs the partial pages and takes it to Mulgrath.In the meantime the children learn how to reach Arthur and summon a Griffin who takes them on a journey to see him in person.Arthur is being held in a trance like state and doesn't at first realize that what he sees is real.When he does Jared explains the situation and shows him the partial book.But the Brownie switched the book for a cookbook so the real partial book one is still back home.Arthur cannot help the youngsters but distracts the Sylphs with the book allowing the children to escape.
Back home the Grace family is preparing for an all out assault by Mulgrath and his army of goblins,as the partial book has given him enough information to destroy the protective circle and enter the house.The assault comes as predicted and the creatures try everything they have but after a fever pitched battle they are finally defeated with a healthy dose of tomato sauce,which
destroys all but Mulgrath.At the end of the battle Mulgrath changes into a bird in order to swoop down on Jared and the book but as he does Hogsqueal is in the branches of a nearby tree and his large tongue dispatches him forthwith.
The Graces go to the home and bring Aunt Lucinda home.As they are standing on the porch they turn and see Arthur Spiderwick floating down on a circle of Sylphs.They have allowed him to come home briefly because the book is safe within the house,but he cannot stay.Lucinda asks if she can return with him.He takes her hand and they both leave,joined together after such a long separation.The Graces go back to their life,with new found knowledge but happy for their Aunt and her new life with her father.
This movie's special effects are dazzling,especially Freddie Highmore's turns as two brother,but they never,ever intrude on the story but constantly compliment it.The acting is wonderful throughout and the story moves along at an excellent pace,never bogging down on too many superfluous details.Nick Nolte does a good turn as the evil ogre Mulgrath and Andrew McCarthy makes a brief appearance as Jared's father.
Technically the film has been transferred well and is in its' original widescreen a/r.Extras include the trailer,three featurettes including Its a Spiderwick World,It's all true and a Field Guide.
This a movie the entire family can enjoy and I highly recommend the film to everyone of all ages.It is a film that deserves a wider audience than it has gotten.Get set to enter a world of Goblins,Griffins,Sylphs,Faeries,Elves,Trolls and many more;the fantastical world of Arthur Spiderwick.

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) Feature

HIGHMORE/BOLGER/STRATHAIRN

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) Overview

Strange things start happening when the Grace family moves into the Spiderwick house, and when Jared Grace finds Arthur Spiderwick's field guide, he d

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) Specifications

A very good adaptation of the popular series of books by Tony DiTerllizi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of the few family films in recent years to seamlessly integrate magical elements with a potent drama that will strike a chord with many kids. An exceptionally talented Freddie Highmore (August Rush) plays twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, caught up in a sad shock from their parents' divorce and coping with a decision by their mother (Mary-Louise Parker) to uproot the boys and their sister, Mallory (Sarah Bolger), from New York City to a small town. There, the broken family moves into a spooky old mansion passed on to them by the kids' great-aunt, Lucinda (Joan Plowright), who is spending her twilight years in managed care and whose scientist father, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn), disappeared some 80 years ago. Jared, angry, defiant, and determined to live with the father who seems to have abandoned him, investigates strange happenings and discovers Arthur's secret notations on fairies, ogres, and other mythical creatures that live both in and outside the house. Having no idea where his curiosity is leading, Jared soon finds that he and his family are under siege from goblins and a powerful ogre (Nick Nolte) who wants Arthur's notebook. Suddenly, the boy who is a lightning rod for a troubled family becomes a resourceful warrior intent on saving his loved ones from powerful forces. The Spiderwick Chronicles benefits enormously from a script (partially written by John Sayles) that treats, quite seriously, the emotional pain of its human characters and makes Jared's will to survive the very real engine of an otherwise fantastic story. It helps, too, that director Mark Waters, who brings a warm and knowing touch to outlandish material (Freaky Friday), has a way of making the spectacular elements of The Spiderwick Chronicles genuine enough to stir real excitement and suspense. This is one of the better film adaptations of best-selling fiction for kids in some years. --Tom Keogh