The Spiderwick Chronicles Reviews and Ratings


  • xxltmoney
    November 25, 2009
    xxltmoney
    I saw this on a school field trip and I wasn't impressed. It seemed like they tried to make it more "bad" then it was by adding profanity here and there.
  • missalainy
    November 25, 2009
    missalainy
    Scary goblins! So much scarier (and enjoyable) than I expected and Freddie Highmore isn't annoying.
  • magnolia12883
    November 24, 2009
    magnolia12883
    Mark Waters' adaptation of the acclaimed young adult books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black is a surprisingly absorbing, enjoyable, and perfectly-tailored family entertainment for this decade. The plot: the Grace family moves from New York City to their great-aunt's (Joan Plowr...( read more)ight) creepy old estate in the middle of nowhere, and must make a fresh start. The mother (Mary-Louise Parker) is trying to move on from her no account husband (Andrew McCarthy), who appears to be more interested in the new girl he's just moved in with than in his own family. The former Mrs. Grace must then take care of her three young teens all by herself. Freddie Highmore gives a terrific performance in a dual role as twin brothers Jared and Simon. Jared is the kind of kid who is lashing out, angry all the time, and who consequentially gets blamed for anything that goes wrong. His brother, Simon, is a bookworm, knows a little something about seemingly everything, and is a self-described "pacifist." How nice then that their fencing champion older sister Mallory (the lovely Sarah Bolger) is there to pick up the slack. The film doesn't take too long before strange things begin occurring - some objects appear to move on their own, while others disappear without a trace, only to reappear in a secret dumbwaiter hidden behind the wall (Simon's the sort of kid who knows what such a device is called). The trio of young siblings soon discovers a book written by their grandfather (the reliable David Strathairn), who disappeared shortly after its completion some 80 years ago. Turns out, the book is a passage-way of sorts to seeing a hidden world of fairies, goblins and ogres, and with the help of a kind little creature named Thimbletack (the voice of Martin Short), and a somewhat undependable sloth named Hogsqueal (the voice of Seth Rogen), the kids must keep the book out of the hands of the evil Mulgarath (Nick Nolte). Some moments will probably scare the bejesus out of kids who are younger than 8 or 9 years old, but that's up to them to decide; indeed, when Mulgarath takes his true shape, he looks something like a cross between King Kong and what you might expect an ogre played by Nick Nolte to look like. It's by sheer serendipity that I should watch this right after re-watching Spike Jonze's "Adaptation." (2002) again. Like Nicolas Cage in that film, if not precisely on the same level, Highmore here creates two distinct individual characters without a single trick of hair or makeup, or even much in the way of costuming - he's terrific. I also greatly enjoyed Sarah Bolger ("In America") as the tough, smart sister who gets caught up in her brothers' pursuits. The adults are all fine, with Joan Plowright managing to never talk down to the material, and Mary-Louise Parker even earning points in the rather thankless role of the disbelieving mother who means well but is clueless. It's worth noting that one of the co-screenwriters of the film is the great John Sayles, an independent filmmaker ("Lone Star," "City of Hope") with an eye for family-friendly magical realism ("The Secret of Roan Inish"). Without having read the books or knowing what part he played in the adaptation of them, I think I can safely attribute a good chunk of this film's intelligence and heart to him. As well, the committed A-list cast, the slick, fantastical direction by Mark Waters ("The House of Yes," "Freaky Friday"), some solid cinematography by Caleb Deschanel, and effective music by James Horner, combine to lift what could've been a low-rent modern-day "Lord of the Rings" knockoff out of the gutter and into the upper echelons of family entertainment.
  • walnutfire846
    November 15, 2009
    walnutfire846
    Imagine this, you're sitting at the front yard, drinking a beer and then a troll asks you "hey, got an extra one?", you pass one to him and he says "thanks" and stays next to you drinking it
    this movie is kinda like that, not cool dude, not cool
  • robertociarallo
    November 11, 2009
    robertociarallo
    Pretty good family movie, but a bit scary.
  • aikyu17
    October 31, 2009
    aikyu17
    Freddie Highmore is my reason why i saw it. After i saw August Rush, i really admired with his performance. August Rush is the best movie i've ever seen.
    And... i knew, this Spiderwick Chronicles is some kind of adventure movie, full animations and many shape of creatures, fairy...( read more), just like in the same kind of imagination movie. I felt so interesting, the story was great. And i'm still wondering, how Freddie could have two characters in it, i'm still admire of him! You have to see this, guys :)
  • HateYouIgnorant
    October 29, 2009
    HateYouIgnorant
    !Comercial or Stupid! :|
  • kakafave1122
    October 26, 2009
    kakafave1122
    It was a really fun film, a magical film with some great characters and creatures in it..nice
  • xoxoGossipGirl7
    October 25, 2009
    xoxoGossipGirl7
    I really love this film. It has a great story and is a great film to watch with family and friends.
  • caseylyn96
    October 23, 2009
    caseylyn96
    my favoret movie and it always will be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • acmroyd
    October 23, 2009
    acmroyd
    The story line was a little cheesy, but the effects make up for this rather predictable story.
  • beannie6
    October 23, 2009
    beannie6
    love the sound of this
  • pinkkpassion
    October 20, 2009
    pinkkpassion
    I thought this was excellent!
  • lydadelacruz
    October 18, 2009
    lydadelacruz
    Jared Grace (Freddie Highmore) unwrapped Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You and opened up his eyes to entities he never thought existed until then. The special effects was marvelous. There were scenes in the book that would have been good on the f...( read more)ilm. They were faithful to the characters illustration in the book though. Directed by Mark Waters.
  • smackmysithup
    October 17, 2009
    smackmysithup
    Great film, one for the whole family to enjoy
  • teeja85
    October 13, 2009
    teeja85
    Totalno mi je kul ovaj SF filmic. Mislim da bi se djeca odusevila kad bi ga pogledala (pritom mislim na osnovnu skolu).
  • cautionwhitedamsel
    October 10, 2009
    cautionwhitedamsel
    This was after all a good movie to watch and a family-themed adventure and fictitious film. Visual effects were done with precision and the actors' performance are commendable. Well, just watch for it.
  • moyettmm
    October 9, 2009
    moyettmm
    I never thought of seeing but I may be will
  • Dasanui
    October 7, 2009
    Dasanui
    This movie was great.
  • noelfernandez09
    October 1, 2009
    noelfernandez09
    **Nick is making few movies but most of them are great.. .this is on of the fine example of their great films... fast paced.... action packed and great cgi creations.... this movie will make you think that live action plus cgi is great unlike those singing chipmunks or fbi agents...( read more) guinea pig....
  • hananperlman
    September 25, 2009
    hananperlman
    cute but not much more.
  • AkatsukiJuS
    September 24, 2009
    AkatsukiJuS
    i though it was gonna suck lol but is in fact reallyyy good! actors are not that famous but are good! the story i loved it is soo cute not totally orginal. the onyl thing is that the movie is a little 2 obious (exept of how the bad guy dies..didn't see that coming) it's not total...( read more)ly funny but it is very interesting
  • WizardsOfWaverlyPlaceFan4Life
    September 22, 2009
    WizardsOfWaverlyPlaceFan4Life
    Another film i keep on meaning to watch but always end up forgetting! I really need to catch it sometime.
  • rufojacobinocosme
    September 19, 2009
    rufojacobinocosme
    cute movie i read the book and
    u know such a big fan
  • elisa120
    September 15, 2009
    elisa120
    Girls LOVED it! We own it and watch it at least once a month! The scenes are fantastic, the faeries are beautiful and the little actors really draw the girls in!
  • briley9
    September 5, 2009
    briley9
    We enjoyed The Spiderwick Chronicles moderately. The film tells the story of a bummed-out teenage boy who stumbles upon a magical book that gives insight into the world of magical creatures. It is, of course, a very valuable book being sought by a malevolent Nick Nolte ogre mon...( read more)ster demon. (He?s almost as scary as his mugshot photo.) Adventures ensue.

    One could see the film as a couple things: a parable about the knowledge children are sometimes forced to learn?the divorce at the center of Jared?s trauma seems like a real-world piece of knowledge he?d be happier not knowing about; it can also be read as a discussion of the dangers of discovery and knowledge. Spiderwick?s book was carefully assembled over years of work and, while illuminating the secrets of the magical world, it also exposes that world (and ours) to incredible danger. One can?t help but see the parallels to scientific research. So the decision to defend the book is interesting in this regard (though the plot makes the book impossible to destroy).

    A few additional thoughts:

    * I haven?t read the book, so I didn?t find myself noticing the distinctions between the film and its source material. I did find myself comparing the creatures in this story to their renderings in Harry Potter. Jenny also found connections to another book series, Fablehaven.
    * They do a great job of keeping the kids in real danger all along. From about the first 15 minutes on, the danger to the kids is both real and pretty darn scary. Solid.
    * The kid-is-angry-about-the-divorce was a little heavy handed, but it worked okay. Freddie Highmore does an excellent job playing the twin boys at the center of the story. Most remarkably, because of makeup, haircuts, etc that made them look slightly different, I didn?t even realize it was just one person playing both boys until the end of the film.
    * The magical creatures looked a bit plastic (as many computer-generated creatures do these days), but the seams were smooth and pretty much invisible. I couldn?t see the wires. At the same time, the menace of the frog-like goblins and the horrible troll are real and well-created. The moment when one of the brothers gets bitten on the leg (and a semi-circle of tooth-marks appears, bloody) made me wince, and the effect of the tomato-sauce bombs on the goblins really works well.
    * We couldn?t help but wonder how the next chapter might evolve, given the story?s pretty solid conclusion. Oh, I suppose another menace will arise from the magical world.
    * And as for good plot construction, there are a number of clever elements that work very well. Our favorite? The older sister who constantly practices fencing and suddenly has a real use for her swordsmanship. Nice.

    Worth watching, but probably not worth going out of your way to see.
  • Joecuffaro
    August 29, 2009
    Joecuffaro
    kids films are getting worse the more crap cheap cgi that plough into them with no attempt to build on a scrpit with a basic premise or plotline. Children deserve better mental stimulation that this unimaginative trollop
  • ellbellangel
    August 28, 2009
    ellbellangel
    omg i watched it at like midnight with sarah and we were like freaked lol
  • ravenhinata
    August 27, 2009
    ravenhinata
    Better than what I thought is would be and I really liked it. Wouldn't mine reading the book.
  • Zafiro07
    August 21, 2009
    Zafiro07
    Me gusto peroo es mas d lo mismoo :P
  • majikhandzz
    August 18, 2009
    majikhandzz
    Great animation,good story, good cast, A+
  • naydiacarla
    August 14, 2009
    naydiacarla
    Cool visual effects. Magical!
  • mollyhey
    August 12, 2009
    mollyhey
    I would never want to read the SpiderWick Chronicle Books. The movie was ok. I would never buy the movie though.
  • mudpup1971
    August 11, 2009
    mudpup1971
    awesome kids movie, must see for them!!!!!!
  • dreamfaeries
    August 11, 2009
    dreamfaeries
    I had a hard time getting into this one in the beginning. But once I sat myself down and watched it, it was great. Very cool!
  • RJ1194
    August 11, 2009
    RJ1194
    WATCHED THIS IN SCHOOL - THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY TBH
  • MKnAshFan
    August 8, 2009
    MKnAshFan
    I loved it .it was really good .
  • Disha2795
    August 5, 2009
    Disha2795
    this movie was very good i think the goblins looked really strange but the movie was great i loved it ! its really good
  • seraphinedsp
    August 4, 2009
    seraphinedsp
    bravo! this movie is one of a kind..love it
  • nurinfarina
    August 3, 2009
    nurinfarina
    i like this show because it is so edventurey show.
  • movieloverforlife
    August 2, 2009
    movieloverforlife
    It was a good fantasy film. The acting was great. The story was interesting.
  • exureimundo
    July 31, 2009
    exureimundo
    I liked this, although the dynamics between the family was weak; I mean, the idea was plausible but on film it didn't play out too well. And it wasn't on account of bad acting, at least not on Freddie Highmore's part as the twin brothers, who I thought was really good. I couldn't...( read more) believe Andrew McCarthy got top billing for what- three minutes and a photograph?
  • rainyday73
    July 30, 2009
    rainyday73
    Real cute movie. The actors did a very good job.
  • flameamigo777
    July 27, 2009
    flameamigo777
    Cute, thats about it
  • rikobanquiles
    July 26, 2009
    rikobanquiles
    this is awesome ... fun to watch..!
  • maclud
    July 23, 2009
    maclud
    another "family" movie. I dont like how that new lil "bankable" dude is acting, but the movie itself is not so bad and entertaining..

Summary

The Spiderwick Chronicles Summary