The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Not quite the movie my son was hoping for, 16 February 2008

A family moves into the now empty house owned by an old, eccentric great aunt who has gone to live in a nearby sanitarium. While exploring the house, one of the boys finds a book that opens a world of magical creatures. Unfortunately for his family, though, an ogre named Mulgarath wants the book and the power it will give him. And he'll stop at nothing to get it.

Let me say upfront that I've never read the books The Spiderwick Chronicles is based on. In fact, until recently, I had never even heard of The Spiderwick Chronicles. I say all this to show that I had no preconceived notions or expectations going into the movie. About the only thing I knew was that my 5 year-old son really wanted to go. Overall, while I enjoyed much of the movie, I did have a few problems that keep me from fully endorsing it.

As for what worked, I'll start with the action. Much of the action in The Spiderwick Chronicles is the "edge of the seat" variety. The films finale with Mulgarath chasing the family around the house is exceptionally well done. In some of the other user comments I've written, I have slammed CG special effects. But here they are used marvelously. It's gotten so that it's difficult to tell where reality ends and the CG begins. The acting is another big highlight for me. Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, and Sarah Bolger all give life and believability to their respective roles. Highmore, in particular, did an outstanding job of creating two distinct characters. Another bonus is that this is a family that actually looks like they could be related. It's a nice piece of casting.

On to what didn't work. First, I'm not a big fan of the family dynamic presented in The Spiderwick Chronicles. When these people aren't being chased by monsters, they seem to spend their time yelling at each other. Why not have a family that gets along? I believe that at least part of the reason I felt this way is that the movie feels incredibly rushed. I've read that five books were crammed into this one movie. It shows. There seemed to be little time for any character interaction that didn't move the plot along or set-up a scene later in the movie. Finally, the movie was much more frightening than I had expected it to be. It didn't bother me, but it scared my son to death. He won't even talk about the parts that didn't scare him – and he's the reason we went. I'm no prude, but maybe this one should have been rated PG-13.

In the end, the good nudges out the bad and I'll rate The Spiderwick Chronicles a 6/10.

6/10