Runtime: 97 Minutes – Country: USA
This family film focuses on the Grace-family and their fantastic experiences due to a house moving. The twin brothers Jared and Simon (a double-role by Freddie Highmore) and their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) are moving into the Spiderwick Estate according to their mother Helen (Mary-Louise Parker) – who has been separated from her husband. One day Jared finds a mysterious book in a secret room that originally was the working room of Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn). There is a little note with a big warning on it… but Jared decides to open and read it.
It seems like this was a big mistake… since a horde of fantastical evil creatures are now brought to life again. They are leaded by the evil Mulgarath, who desperately wants to get hold of the book – to gain more and more power over all mystical but also human creatures. Meanwhile there is a serious family conflict going on… Jared is the only one who can see the upcoming danger; he is trying to convince his family members – but they are rather ascribing this to his general frustration and the resulting power of imagination… please note that this film is based on a book series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. To state it in advance; I have not came to read the books yet – so I will review this one totally unprejudiced…
Jared is encountering the secrets of the mysterious book
Ok – this one is officially labled as a fair family film, totally suitable to a younger audience also – beware, it is rather gritty, and has some very brutal scenes also. Do not get me wrong, I am not too sensitive – but when I imagine that children around 5 or 6 years of age are watching this film – I am sceptical, most certainly. Especially the scenes in which the evil monster are killed by Jared and his family – are appealing rather brutal – since here we have stabbing, cauterization, chopped fingers… and so on. I guess that is nothing suitable for a younger children’s audience, even though it are “only” monsters that come to harm. And these “monsters” are looking and behaving very scary, too.
Of course, the main storyline can be ascribed to the overall fantasy genre – it is all about a mysterious book, that has a certain fantastical meaning. Since there are two sides which want to get a hold of it – the good ones that are trying to conceal it, and the bad ones that are trying to use it for their own purposes. Unfortunately, this isn’t anything new ! Still, this film manages to deliver a totally unique mood. And this is mainly ascribable to the good actors: especially Freddie Highmore in his dual role can convince; such as the other family members which are portrayed by very talented actors also. I think the audience would get a good feeling for this familiar constellation, since it seems to be very authentic.
But, and to state it: I had my problems with this film. If we look at it, we can see see that it actually consists of two big parts: the whole mystery behind the mansion and the book; and the familiar problems and conflicts – I think that this mixture does not really work out. Since it is just like this: when the familiar problems are reaching their climax, there are the monsters appearing… conclusional, the whole differentiation between a normal world and a more fantastical one turns out out to be rather annoying and a little compelled in this case…
Click to get to Amazon.com…
Speaking of the general technical part – it is just outstanding. The creatures are well and lovely animated, single scenes like the ride on the gryphon or the final fight between Jared and Mulgarath are just terrific and amazingly realized – although I do not really like this exaggerated occurence of CGI-effects. The soundtrack has been composed by James Horner – a great choice, if you would ask me; especially towards the ending it releases its full power and variety.
Finally: I think that this film is way too short. Although I have not read the books, it is obvious that they could have made more out of this source material. Pressing all this topics into a 90 minutes format – I think that was the wrong choice here. Furthermore, and because of this: it is lacking of this certain magical feeling that not many similar productions are able to deliver. As soon as the overall storyline is introduced rashly, the film ends – this could not be better described by the death of the overall evil mastermind Mulgarath; who dies in a rather hilarious way – see this for yourself. And this is a feeling that I had troughout the whole film: all what has been pronounced loudly is relativized within a split second. Another rare occasion: the lovely made outro works even better than the whole film itself ! My final rating: 5.4 out of 10 points – a thrilling and entertaining choice for (older!) kids. But do not expect anything special here.
The DVD at Amazon.com – The Trailer
I loved the movie – just not as much as a friend of mine who saw it in the cinema with me – and about 12 times afterwards . To me the magic of the movie was enough – judging by the way I felt when I went outside of the cinema – it almost felt like I was changing dimensions .Freddie himself was briliant and I really enjoyed his acting – but in general I agree with you that the movie could have been a bit longer ( 120 min may be ).
I do not know if it is only ascribable to the lenght of it, maybe – since everything seems to be portrayed so rashly and without developing an ongoing feeling for the storyline. But, and according to the promising title (with the term “chronicles” within) – I expected way more !