Movie Review - 'The Spiderwick Chronicles'

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Starring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, and David Strathairn
Directed by Mark Waters
Rated PG

If there's one advantage The Spiderwick Chronicles has over its family-friendly fantasy competition, it's that there is a slight sense of magic about it all. Outside of maybe Harry Potter, none of the other entries in the commercially successful genre - The Golden Compass, Narnia, Lemony Snicket - have an organic wonderment about them. Despite all their accomplishments, you can always hear the gears running the machines.

Why is Spiderwick different? It's harder to define than noticing it exists, but part of it has to do with the endlessly imaginative creatures that make this world of fairies, trolls and ogres come to life and part of it has to do with the frank manner in which the movie throws real life into the mix, with divorcing parents, kids struggling with anger issues, and the universal fear of starting over somewhere new all figuring into the equation.

If there's a second advantage Spiderwick has over its competition, it's the casting of Freddie Highmore, who has had a remarkable streak of solid to downright outstanding performances between the ages of 11 and 15. He plays twin brother Jared and Simon here, each one distinct, one of whom, Jared, becomes completely captivated with the otherworldly sights and beings around him when his mother and siblings move into an old family house.

Jared discovers a book, an encyclopedic work about every creature in the faerie world, written by an ancestor named Spiderwick. The book is Jared's way in, but it's also the key to his way out. As awe inspiring as it is to see sprites and talking goblins, there's a dark side to the book. An evil ogre (Nick Nolte) wants the all-encompassing book for his own. After all, knowledge is power.

The Spiderwick Chronicles allows you to feel for human characters while getting as swept up into the magical and mystical as Jared and his siblings do. It's not an easy thing to do. Usually, these movies get bogged down in creating the creatures and forget that creating the relatable characters always, always, always comes first.

Director Mark Waters and a team of screenwriters (which includes the estimable John Sayles) begins with a troubled young kid, casts one of the best kid actors going to play him, finds time to show him as vulnerable and scared and finally, after all that, introduces us to the fantastic distractions.