The Spiderwick Chronicles

This fantasy film deserves our sympathy and attention.

This is a good film to watch with the family because it will easily appeal to young people and adults alike. However, I think it never received the attention it deserved, perhaps due to the fact that it was released at a time when the fantasy genre was dominated by a group of other much stronger and more relevant films. The film also strives to show the hidden side of knowledge as something dangerous, less than desirable, following the logic of there are things we simply shouldnt know.

The story begins when a recently divorced woman moves with her children to a rustic house in the forest, which belongs to a great-aunt hospitalized as crazy. This house has been closed for a lon...

This doesnt exactly get off to a flying start as siblings Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore) arrive at a rundown house with their elder sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and the mum (Mary-Louise Parker). There is no sign of their absentee dad/husband (Andrew McCarthy) so we are left to assume the worst about his commitment to his family. Of course then there is the usual familial petulance, door slamming and stropping as nobody really wants to live in the ramshackle joint. Luckily, from now on the film diverges away from family melodrama as things start going bump inside the walls and they discover a secret and powerful book. Then out of the woodwork pops Thimbletack who reads Jared into the story of his great, great uncle Arthur (David Stratha...