The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) | Freddie Highmore

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) | Freddie Highmore | The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie

DVDs:

The Spiderwick Chr...

	The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition) Freddie Highmore Paramount, 2008 average customer review:based on 98 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A great movie!

This was a great movie all around. Very interesting and exciting and keeps you guessing the whole way through. I loved it! It was so suspensful and imaginative the ideas in here are something new, it's not the same ol been there done that bit. It's highly original. I enjoyed the movie and the ended, it is a wonderful story with a feel good ending. I would recommend everyone in the family to watch this!

The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie

The Spiderwick Chronicles is an excellent film. Well acted, well directed and well written. The story line is creative and engaging. Freddie Highmore is a superb actor and he does a stellar performance here. The special effects are not overwhelming and fix very nicely with the story. If you have kids or are a kid at heart this is a most buy.

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Spiderwick Chronicles

The movie was great! My five year old's watched it about 30 times since we got it! And I like the fantasy so I don't mind watching it with her! Very Happy!

The Spiderwick Chronicles

I enjoyed the movie VERY much...I'm a 70 year old Harry Potter fan, and this film was not quite as complicated as all the Potter stories, but it was vertainly entertaining. I'm glad I purchased it.

One of the Better Recent Juvenile Fantasy adaptations

The Spiderwick Chronicles is based on a series of popular children's fantasy novels written by Holly Black and Tony Di Terlizzi. The first book premiered in 2003 with four more following in the next two years. The film essentially encompasses the major plot of the five novels although a number of sub-plots and characters are left out and several significant changes were made to streamline the production, such moving the climactic battle from Mulgarath's castle to the Spiderwick estate.

The story centers on the Grace family, twins Jared and Simon, older sister Mallory, and mom Helen, who move into the country estate they inherited from their Aunt Lucinda(Joan Plowright) who is now living in a psychiatric facility. Freddie Highmore plays the roles of Jared and Simon Grace in a remarkable performance. I was convinced that they really were twins as Highmore gives each character a distinct personality and mannerisms. Jared is the agitator and angry with his parents for splitting up and forcing the move to the country. Simon is a thoughtful pacifist and animal lover. Highmore's performance as the twins, as well as the technical aspect of having them onscreen together is flawless.

Jared discovers an old key that opens a truck in the study of Arthur Spiderwick, Lucinda's father. Inside he finds a book, Spiderwick's Field Guide and a note warning not to open the book. Well of course Jared opens the book, unleashing evil forces. Jared meets a Brownie named Thimbletack (voiced by Martin Short) who scolds him for opening the book. He warns him that Mulgarath (Nick Nolte), a shape-shifting ogre, wants the book to unlock its magical secrets and gain dominion over the world. He has a legion of goblins, trolls, and other beasties to aid him. A magical circle protects the house, but Mulgarath has found a way to dispel the enchantment, putting the family in peril. The grace family has to find a way to defeat Mulgarath before he can get his hands on the book.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is an enjoyable film for the whole family and vastly superior to other recent films based on children's/teen fantasy novels, The Golden Compass and Seeker: The Dark is Rising. The Spiderwick Chronicles is geared to kids but could be too intense for young children as some of the monsters, Mulgarath most notably, are quite terrifying. Martin Short is amusing as Thimbletack, the jittery-tempered brownie who can only be calmed by guzzling fresh honey. Seth Rogen provides the voice for Hogsqueal, a Hobgoblin who aids the children.

There is a lot of CGI in Spiderwick that threatens to overwhelm the story when there are dozens of goblins scurrying about and the massive Mulgarath smashing down walls. Still, it has its subtle moments as well with the gentle Sylphs who kidnap Arthur Spiderwick to keep him safe. The tiny fairies look like dandelion fluffs blowing in the wind. The simplicity of the plot also makes it very watchable for kids and probably the reason why so many of the book's subplots were dropped.

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