THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is a fun and engaging fantasy movie for all ages. The story is a compressed and tightened version of a five book children's series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. It is the type of movie I would love to see a sequel to and has the magic that THE SEEKER: THE DARK IS RISING was missing. Freddie Highmore is great as twin brothers and yet Sarah Bolger is very intersting as sister Mallory. I hope compressing the five books into one movie prvents them from writing a great sequel. It is the most fun family fantasy film since THE THIEF LORD and teh HARRY POTTER films.

Jared Grace (Freddie Highmore) moves to the house of his aunt's with his mom, twin brother Simon, and sister Mallory. He wants to be with his Dad and doesn't know his parents are getting divorced. It amounts to Jared having angerissues when he stumbles upon the field guide of Arthur Spiderwick. He ignores the note not to open it. He opens it and reads about faeries, brownies, goblins, trolls, and the evil Mulgarath who wants the field guide to destroy all of the good fantastic creatures such as faeries, sprytes, and brownies. The opening of the book has opened Jared up to danger. Even worse the golbins have seen he has the field guide. He must get he Brownie Timbletack to help him and for Simon and Mallory to believe in him. Once that is done, they are set on a journey to find Arthur Spiderwick and stop Mulgarath from killing them (and getting the Field Guide).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
The first disc lacks an audio commentary. Yep, audio commentary tracks are spoiling me.

DISC 1-
SPIDERWICK- IT'S ALL TRUE- This is the first featurette where they say the creatures in the film really do exist. The director gives a tour of the creatures and protections against them.
IT'S A SPIDERWICK WORLD- The authors of the book series talk about The Spideriwck Chronicles series and what inspired various things. The authors say the kids are based on kids who say they had experiences with faeries and other creatures. How the film came about and what was changed from the books when the script was written.
ARTHUR SPIDERWICK'S FIELD GUIDE- a look at pages from the field guide.
Also there is a guide In-Movie mode option which allows you to leave the movie and access the guide.

DISC 2-
SPIDERWICK: MEET THE CLAN- interviews with all the cast members and the voice actors chosen for two characters. They make a remark that a British boy plays American twin teens and an Irish girl playing their older sister.
MAKING SPIDERWICK- a look at the production of the film.
THE MAGIC OF SPIDERWICK- a look at the visual effects created by Tippett Studios and ILM- interviews with animators from both studios.
A FINAL WORD OF ADVICE- The director ends with a word of caution about the creatures out there.

Four extended scenes don't add anything to the film and they were rightfully cut for pacing reasons and padding. Also on the second disc are nine Nickelodeon TV spots and two theatrical trailers.

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES is a fun and imaginative fantasy film for all ages to enjoy. The extras aren't bad, but I wish there were more of them and an audio commentary.

this movie review is (c)6-20-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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