The Spiderwick Chronicles Review
by [email protected] (dnb AT dca DOT net)February 19th, 2008
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2008 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
While we're all waiting for "Prince Caspian," the second installment of "The Chronicles of Narnia," to arrive in theaters this May (or, to a lesser extent, the next go-round of "The Chronicles of Riddick," with Vin Diesel), "The Spiderwick Chronicles" might just suffice as an airy-fairy stopgap measure.
The latest children's fantasy to challenge Harry Potter's well-worn Gryffindor throne features sprites and trolls, boggarts and brownies, pixies, dwarves, and treefolk--in fact, all manner of mystical creatures. It isn't bad of its kind, but its kind is starting to exude that slightly disagreeable scent of deja-vu: we've been so inundated with golden compasses, magical rings, and Tri-Wizard Tournaments as of late that it's becoming increasingly hard to tell one saga from another.
Since "'Spiderwick'" is based on a whole series of books (and not just one of several) this might well be the first and last time we see the nine-year-old twins Jared and Simon and their teenaged sister Mallory on the big screen. Only time--and box office--will tell.
Written by New Jersey native Holly Black and imaginatively illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" tell the inventive, fantastic tale of the Grace family who, as this earnest adaptation begins, relocate into the decrepit, run-down Spiderwick mansion. All are rather dismally trying to start life anew after Dad (Andrew McCarthy) dumps Mom (Mary-Louise Parker) for another woman. Jared (Freddie Highmore) is angry and bitter, unaware that his father won't actually be liberating him from this spooky New England estate; Simon (also--and not immediately obviously--Freddie Highmore) is more the nurturing/diplomat/pacifist-type--he doesn't *do* conflict; and Mallory ("In America"'s Sarah Bolger), spunky and tenacious, likes to fence.
That swordsmanship will prove quite convenient once Jared discovers their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick's 'Field Guide to Faeries' tucked away in the attic, a dusty, secret, wax-sealed tome that documents an alternate universe of faeries, hobgoblins, elves, stray sods, changelings, griffins, and an evil, shape-shifting ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte, only briefly humanoid) hell bent on wanton
destruction.
Mark Waters (Disney's "Freaky Friday" remake) directs; Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, and yes, *that* John Sayles pen the untaxing screenplay; David Strathairn appears as Arthur Spiderwick mostly in equally untaxing sepia-toned flashbacks (no huffing and puffing up mountainsides for him this time out); and everyone's favorite stuffy grandmotherly British type Joan Plowright ("Widows' Peak," etc.) plays Great Aunt Lucinda, safely squirreled away at the local sanatorium on account of her obsessive culinary indulgences: salt, honey, and spaghetti sauce.
The CGI effects are both generous and decent but the film is unrelenting in its action sequences, including several that made me question the film's mild PG rating (a subterranean chase by a Komodo-like troll, for example, even if it does culminate in a one-liner). So keep your eye on those little ones. That said, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is a respectable enchanted fable that strikes a fine balance between its phantasmagorical elements and ersatz family dynamics. And while between the two of them Jared and Simon Grace are no Harry Potter they could easily give Crabbe and Goyle a run for their money.
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David N. Butterworth
[email protected]
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