The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Wonderful character development!

Absolutely brilliant

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a family adventure but although an adaptation of a series of books it lacks the wonder of the Harry Potter films but is a decent solid adventure in its own right.A newly divorced mother Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) moves with her children Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and twins Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore) into an haunted old house in upstate New York that was once owned by her great uncle, a naturalist Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) who vanished and his now elderly daughter ended up in an asylum.Jared discovers a book written by Spiderwick that has a warning which is ignored. The book is a field guide explaining that the estate is inhabited by various mystical creatures such as goblins and fairies.The evil Lord Mulgrath wants to destroy the book but the house has various protection including creatures that protect the book from falling into the wrong hands. The Grace kids embark on a magical and dangerous adventure.The film is economical and set at a brisk pace but it is no more than middling despite some indie sensibilities the film has such as John Sayles as one of the screenwriters.

I have to admit that when I sat down to watch this movie, I knew pretty much nothing about it, not even that it was based on a series of books. All I knew was that it was a family movie, so this adult was prepared for the worst. To my surprise, I found myself pretty entertained throughout. One reason was that the characters, as flawed as they are (there IS a lot of yelling and arguing by them, as some other posters have pointed out), are much smarter than characters in many other family movies. They do make some mistakes, but their mistakes are believable and even understandable. Another positive attribute is that the story moves very swiftly (though wisely not TOO swift) and that there are no lulls. There's a lot of action and excitement, but there are also some thoughtful moments here and there. And the special effects, while often obvious CGI creations, are all the same fun to watch. This adult was certainly entertained, so I think a lot of kids would be entertained as well. Though I feel I should mention that there are a few dark and scary moments that might freak out some more sensitive youngsters aged eight or under, so be aware.

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is a perfectly entertaining children's fantasy film that provides a neat alternative to those viewers who've overdosed on Harry Potter's antics. This one is a neat, standalone tale of mythical monsters and invisible beasties, and the three kids who have to fight them in an old, crumbling house in the remote countryside.The film provides plenty of action and lots of special effects (CGI, of course), which are for the most part very well achieved. There's humour (some of which, like the Seth Rogen character, I could have done without), scary scenes, and a great deal of imagination. It's all very familiar and rather predictable - in fact, I had virtually the same idea for a story like this, once - but there's little to dislike.Okay, so the script could have been a little tighter; there's a little too much yelling and shrillness early on, before the characters of the protagonists are given a chance to come out. The casting of Freddie Highmore in the dual role is very good, though, and something I didn't spot until about halfway through. Sarah Bolger, late of THE TUDORS, is excellent as ever. The director could have been better, but as I said, there's little to dislike in this one.

I was actually fond of my liking with the Spiderwick Chronicles books. Although, not as compelling as the HP series, TCON series, and TLOTR trilogy, they were entertaining and enjoyable little novels. So, after seeing that Hollywood turned all five of those novels into this feature length film, I was very impressed at how visually interesting this movie was. There are two problems that I do have with this film.The film focused too heavily on the special effects that didn't tone up the pacing and since it was based on all five books (though it did quite capture the darker tone of the books), the story elements from book 4 and book 5 were absent in equivalent to cinema quality although it was faithful to the first three books and the climax of the fifth book.With that said, this is a dark and enjoyable family film. The concept about a boy who finds a book made by an old man naked Arthur Spiderwick was so amazing it keeps the drama at its proper level during the solid action sequences throughout this flick. The acting is great. The voice actors for Thimbletack, Hogsqueal, and the evil ogre Mulgarath including Martin Short, Seth Rogen, and Nick Nolte were fabulous and the human actors including Mary Louise Parker, Sarah Bolger, David Strathairm and Joan Plowright did amazing, but I think Freddie Highmore steals the show for portraying both Jared and Simon Grace beautifully because he sure has some talent from the other films he starred from. Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, August Rush, The Golden Compass, you name it. I even liked the wonderful music score from the brilliant James Horner that has a surprising mix of drama, suspense, and emotion.Although, not on par with other fantasy flicks like Harry Potter, Narnia, and Lord of the Rings, The Spiderwick Chronicles is an enjoyable action family movie from Paramount Pictures. A solid thumbs up from me.