The Spiderwick Chronicles on DVD (2007)

Average rating: 73%

from 12,634 members

1 Critics review
155 Members reviews

Starring:	Sarah Bolger, Freddie Highmore, Seth Rogen, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, David Strathairn
Director:	Mark Waters
Studio:	Paramount
Run time:	92 mins
Certificate:
Collections:	100 Hot Hits, 100 Most Wanted
User collections:	10 Children's book-to-film adaptations, Gabby
Genres:	Family, Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Languages:	English
Hearing-impaired:	English
Released:	14/07/2008
Also Available on:

Brief synopsis of The Spiderwick Chronicles

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

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Critics Reviews

Tom Charity, LOVEFiLM

These are big times for kid lit. As someone who grew up on BBC serializations of CS Lewis and co, it's mindboggling to see how much money is going into the Narnia, Potter, and Lord of the... read more »

Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *

Better than expected, but...

Andybe from Richmond [Highly rated reviewer] , 17/03/2008

Took the kids to this one over the weekend, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. We had read the books before seeing this - the film changes quite a bit in terms of settings and supporting characters, but the resulting simplification allows the film to keep to ~1.5 hours, and is probably why it works as well as it does.

That said, I have a couple gripes... Although the kids were well-cast, I was not a fan of Mary-Louise Parker in this. She just seemed to be playing her 'Weeds' character (and I'm not a fan of Weeds). Also, this was a very scary film for the wee ones. There simply wasn't enough levity (e.g,. the manic Hogsqueal) to offset the darkness - this may be ok for the books, but the producers knew who would be requesting this as a Saturday matinée. As noted they changed enough of the story to successfully transfer it to the silver screen that I felt they could have lightened it up so that the kids wouldn't have to hide their eyes for 1/4 of the film. The film's warning regarding under 8's, while too late once you're in your seat, is fully warranted!

There was one scene, however, that was simply went beyond what I thought was acceptable for kids.

***Spoiler warning***

After the family battles the goblins, the father turns up. After failing interrogation, our young hero plunges a large kitchen knife into him. The fact that 'dad' turns out to be the baddy in disguise doesn't excuse what I feel is very poor judgement by the director and writers.

***End spoiler***

So, a decent flick, but think twice before taking your younger children.

14 out of 15 people found this review helpful

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A film that flies by.. so Must be good

PaulaWestwood from Ashton-Under-Lyne [Highly rated reviewer] , 15/03/2008

Do you know Freddie Highmore was 16 when he recorded this, and after an absolutely huge amount of quality films, that would take a Hollywood 'A' lister a lifetime to equal, in this he has to play two parts - as identical brothers. The book based story just flew by, I thought I was in the cinema about 20 minutes before it ended, it had some absolutely magic moments and the time just flew. Amongst some pretty reasonable films out, this certainly more than stands its ground, and is a delightful family treat that is well worth a watch, one more thing to add..

Keep 'em coming Freddie, a stunning young modern actor that I can't ever see tiring of watching on the big screen.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful

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