The Spiderwick Chronicles

Starring: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Mary Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, David Straitharn, and the voices of Martin Short and Seth Rogen

Written by: Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum and John Sayles based on the books by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Directed by: Mark Waters

I initially dismissed the Spiderwick Chronicles as a kind of Harry Potter rip off.  But in reality it is more of a generic fantasy tale…done exceptionally well.   There is nothing very unique or innovative about the tale.  But it goes to show that there is something to be said for just making the most of the material.

The basic gist is a young now single mother and her three children are moving into a spooky house in the country, that turns out to be the central point of the fantastical.  Our protagonist, Jared, is a young boy, upset over his parents splitting and not seemingly fitting in anywhere discovers Arthur Spiderwick’s Guide to the Fantastical.   There is a warning note telling him not to read it…well of course he does.

And quickly we are introduced to the fantastical world and it’s creatures.  The creatures are well designed and if the special effects aren’t extraordinary, they are definitely serviceable.  The cast to voice these creatures is well chosen.  Martin Short’s tiny Thimbleteck is a lot different than I had pictured whenI heard it was Short’s role, but in a definitely good way.  Nick Nolte brings a real evil presence to the ogre, Mulgarath and finally I couldn’t help but smile at Seth Rogan’s hobgoblin, Hogsqueal.  A good voice is imperitave to making the characters real, and these three do the job well.

Most of the time, the human characters get overlooked and they deliver subpar performances.  That is only partially true here.  Sarah Bolger as big sister, Mallory, is serviceable but ultimately forgettable. The same ultimately with Mary Louise Parker’s mother role.  David Straitharn is decent in a small role as Arthur Spiderwick, but if anyone deserves mention it’s lead character Freddie Highmore.  Asked to play twin brothers, Highmore does a fantastic job creating two separate roles for the twins…I thought they were twins at first.  It’s an accomplished job that an actor twice his age might have had a hard time with.  So kudos to him.

The score by James Horner also did a fine job, never interfering with the movie, but helping to move it along at its own pace.

The only real negative about the film is the material.  It’s just not that exciting, it’s random at places, and just doesn’t overall gel.  I don’t understand why the book is so important?  The ogre who is from the fantastical world, can read about the creatures and be able to destroy the world?  What?  I understand the whole knoweldge is the best weapon metaphor, but it seems kind of a flimsy support structure for the movie.

And the randomness, used so well by Rowling in Potter, is just too vague to strike any chord in this film.  Tomato sauce?  Why?

Overall it is certainly an enjoyable film that the whole family will love (even if the little ones are a little afraid of the ogres).  The books may have gone to more depth and made it less generic which would make me appreciate the story even more, but even as is, I’ll watch this one a few more times and enjoy it.

B-