The Spiderwick Chronicles invites you to a world unseen. The five part children’s book series was published from 2003-2004. I never heard of the books, but I knew about the movie. Since I watched a lot of Nick growing up, the Nickelodeon movie The Spiderwick Chronicles was heavily marketed on the channel. Even though I’m a big fan of fantastical worlds, the 2008 movie didn’t interest me. I was pleasantly surprised when I decided to give it a chance years later. The Spiderwick Chronicles is a delightful trip though an enchanting world of invisible sprites, goblins, ogeries, boggarts, hobgoblins, trolls, and even the lesser known brownie.
It’s an inventive tale with children as the heroes. The Grace family recently move into the Spiderwick estate. A spooky old house in the middle of nowhere that contains an all important field guide written by Arthur Spiderwick. The family consists of divorced mother Helen, her fencing skilled older daughter Mallory, and the twins Jared & Simon. Although it’s weird hearing child Freddie Highmore speak in an American accent, he is great at distinguishing the very different brothers.
Simon is a pacifist, but Jared is a hotheaded hero who finds the book. The field guide unleashes the fairy world that can only be viewed through a seeing stone. The CGI used for the creatures was my initial turn off, but the crude design works surprisingly well. The Spiderwick Chronicles is a unique adventure to protect the house from an evil ogre who seeks to wield the knowledge from the book. With the help of Thimbletack the house brownie and Hogsqueal the hobgoblin, the family fight back in an intense family friendly way. The Spiderwick Chronicles is best seen by true lovers of fantasy.
Jared looks into the fairy world
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