Movie Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles directed by Mark Waters

May 7th, 2010 | 3.5-4 Treasure Chests, Fantasy, Movie Review

by First Mate Keira, guest reviewer

Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles
Director: Mark Waters
Run Time: 107 minutes
Rated: PG

Summary: The Grace children move with their mom into their crazy aunt's house after their parent's split up. Jared is embittered and blames his mom for the split. All he wants to do is be with his dad and can't wait until he shows up and takes him away. When unimaginable and unthinkable things begin to happen, Jared is blamed for them. How can he prove his innocence when what's causing all the problems is so fantastical and so invisible?

Why I watched this movie:

I saw this movie after reading the original five Spiderwick Chronicles.

Likes:

One of the best things about this movie is the fact that it combined all the novels into one movie. The books are exceptionally short and hardly made a book let alone a movie.
I think Freddie Highmore who plays both Jared and Simon is absolutely adorable! His acting is incredible. I actually thought he was twins until I looked up the specifics.
Mary-Louise Parker who played the mom, Helen Grace, did a great job too. She looked and acted every bit the exasperated, exhausted, and sad mother. Parker truly fleshes out the character from book to onscreen.
Hogsqueal. Loved him!

Dislikes:

They changed a lot and I mean a lot of things from the books to the movies. Everything from how the griffin becomes part of the family to Helen seeing and battling goblins in the house and all in between.
The CGI is weaker than I'd like it to be especially with Thimbletack.
There are several continuity errors that the discerning eye and ear can make out while watching.

Buy: The Spiderwick Chronicles (Two-Disc Special Edition), The Spiderwick Chronicles [Blu-ray], The Spiderwick Chronicles (Widescreen Edition), The Spiderwick Chronicles (Full Screen Edition)

Movie Rating: 3.5 Treasure Chests

Keira runs a book review blog for readers by readers on romance novels entitled Love Romance Passion. She’s been reading romance since she was in her teens and began blogging about romance so she could share her passion for her favorite genre. She loves reading paranormal, Regency, historical America, and highlander most of all and completely adores blind and wounded heroes.