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The Spiderwick Chronicles Movie Review

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008 fantasy film directed by Mark Waters and starring Freddie Highmore. It’s a messy, but fun flick.

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“What does he mean, ‘we all die’?

I think he means we all die“

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It follows the adventures of Jared Grace and his family as they discover a field guide to fairies while encountering goblins, ogres, brownies, boggarts, hobgoblins, trolls and other magical creatures. This is one of those movies that are instantly reminiscent to book material for better and worse. The storytelling is intricate, but also quite obviously messy.

I liked the fantastical elements quite a bit, some were downright intriguing and the world-building is excellent. However, the movie is cluttered with way too many of these elements, thus rendering the film devoid of any real magic that was only present in the first act. Again, everything is well crafted here, but the decision to adapt so many books into one movie really backfired when it comes to pacing, which is so frenetic.

Freddie Highmore is excellent in the main dual role, killing it in what is one of the best child performances of this decade. I also really liked the protagonist’s sister and their sibling relationship was so well realized. The adults are also quite well developed. Every character is pretty solid in this film, but none are truly great, which is the same I would say to the movie itself.

As for the technicalities, they’re excellent. The Spiderwick Chronicles features a typical over-reliance on special effects, standard for the 2000s period really, but they are all great, especially the terrific designs of the creatures. They are numerous to a fault, but also genuinely fun and some are even quite creepy.

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The dialogue is pretty good and I really liked some plot points here, the whole storyline being very well realized. However, the ending was way too convenient and happy in my book, and again it felt too neatly resolved. The movie is dark at times, but it needed even more darkness to appeal to adults. But when it comes to children, you really can’t get better than this in this not that great period for family entertainment.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a messy movie as they tried to adapt way too many books into a singular film. Obviously, that led to a frenetic, overly cluttered flick. But the characters and acting performances are solid, the overall storyline is pretty good and the VFX are superb throughout. It’s an uneven, but fun family fantasy flick.