Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger in THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES(2008).
© Paramount Pictures
Maniac Grade: A-
Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rating: PG
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, David Strathairn, Joan Plowright
Written By: Karey Kirkpatrick and David Berenbaum and John Sayles, based on the books by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black
Directed By: Mark Waters
Distributor: Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES
By: Abbie Bernstein, ColumnistDate: Thursday, February 14, 2008
In the often enchanting and very enjoyable kid-friendly fantasy The Spiderwick Chronicles, creatures that look like Brian Froud drawings do energetic, messy battle with three children who come to realize that their new house is surrounded by fairies, goblins and related beings.
At the start, young Jared Grace (Freddie Highmore) is furious that his divorced mother Helen (Mary-Louise Parker) is moving with Jared, his mellower twin brother Simon (also Highmore) and their slightly older sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) into a house “in the middle of nowhere” inherited from Helen’s relatives. However, Jared is quick to notice there’s something very weird about whatever is skittering behind the walls, and when he comes across a hidden book with a warning note on its cover, he can’t resist reading it. Soon Jared is able to see the household brownie and a whole host of magical entities who live in the woods around the house. Bad news for Jared – some of these creatures are deadly and want the book to use for apocalyptic ends. However, help comes from some unexpected quarters.
Director Mark Waters and writers Karey Kirkpatrick and David Berenbaum and John Sayles, working from the series of Spiderwick books by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black, have an actual sense of enchantment – anyone who got a charge out of Narnia will feel a similar thrill of pleasure here. Granted, the filmmakers do take just a little too long on the set-up and if the crazy payoffs weren’t so good, the whole coming-to-terms-with-parental-breakup subplot would start grating. You forgive a lot, though, when wonderfully realized toad-esque goblins come into kinetic conflict with frantically scared but very inventive young folks.
Highmore does a fine job of distinguishing the angry, alert Jared from the brainier, more circumspect Simon. He and the Irish-born Bolger both do excellent American accents. Nick Nolte is suitably intimidating as the biggest of the baddies, while Parker ably goes from domestic naturalism to the sort of reaction called for when her character finally learns the truth. David Strathairn and Joan Plowright hit exactly the right notes as people with ties to the Spiderwick house.
The special effects are cohesive and beautiful, with the great folktale feel of potent illustrations. A flying griffin is not dissimilar to Buckbeak from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but is no less effective for this.
Mostly, though, there’s a sense of honest, wild mischief here that asserts itself whenever Jared and his kin must oppose the forces of darkness. Very little kids may be scared by the carnivorous goblins, but older ones should really get a bang out of them. In a good way, The Spiderwick Chronicles becomes reminiscent of Gremlins as it unfolds, pitching fairytale critters against determined youngsters in wild warfare. The resolution feels perfect because it’s pure folklore. The Spiderwick Chronicles always looks right, and aside from a few too-hard plucks at our heartstrings, it feels right, too.
