'The Spiderwick Chronicles': Fine Fantasy for Kids

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

You might not realize this, but all around you are creatures you cannot see: goblins kicking up dead leaves, fairies masquerading as flower blossoms. Those rats in the attic? More likely, they're brownies -- and not the sort you bake from a mix.

This, at least, is how it goes in the world of "The Spiderwick Chronicles," a kids' fantasy based on a best-selling series of books by the same name. It's a good but not great movie, based on good but not great books. Kids who loved the stories won't be too disappointed with changes director Mark Waters ("Mean Girls", "Freaky Friday") made to the story, and those who haven't yet read them will be able to follow the narrative just fine. It's just their parents who will be secretly wishing for more fantastic fare.

When the story begins, the Grace family -- twins Jared and Simon (both Freddie Highmore), sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and their mother, Helen (Mary-Louise Parker) -- has moved into a decrepit Victorian mansion given to them by their lunatic great-aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright). No one wants to be there, but they couldn't afford New York after their father left the family.

The father's abandonment also explains Jared's significant anger-management problem. We see him flare up almost immediately when he attacks the bumper of his mother's car, and later, the kitchen wall. Anger issues have benefits of a sort, though: What else would make a boy put a broomstick through the wall, just because he hears scrabbling noises coming from behind the plaster?

It is this rash act that helps Jared discover not only a strange creature scurrying about but also a mysterious book in the attic -- a book that is a field guide to the unseen world around us, revealing the secrets of all its denizens. The book has been left there by Arthur Spiderwick, a sort of "super" naturalist who lived in the mansion 80 years earlier.

This book is a huge object of desire, but not because it has the power of, say, the Sorcerer's Stone in "Harry Potter," which granted its bearer eternal life and unlimited wealth. Rather, everyone wants it because it contains the heretofore unpublished secrets of the fairy world. One creature in particular, the ogre Mulgarath (voiced by Nick Nolte) wants to use it to somehow destroy both the fairy and the human worlds.

Therein lies the big problem with the novels and the movie. People keep saying this book is a dangerous thing, but all we see of it is Arthur Spiderwick sketching fairies. The "Spiderwick Chronicles" is pretty much an encyclopedia with a good name. How powerful could it possibly be? For an end-of-the-world fantasy to really work, the object of desire needs to have a lot more zing (no offense to all the encyclopedia salespeople of the world).

Without a major change to the book, this movie was limited from the start. So the best thing the director did was compress all five volumes into one film. At least we won't have another "Series of Unfortunate Events" on our hands -- a movie that stopped before the Lemony Snicket series concluded, with no sequel in sight.

What's in It for Kids

Kids really drive this story along, and that's refreshing to see. Many children's movies rely on an adult mentor or two to help the kids figure out what they need to do. "Spiderwick" largely leaves its heroes up to their own devices.

Each has strengths and weaknesses to contend with -- things kids will relate to. Jared, the hero, can't keep his temper. Simon is a sort of wimpy pacifist (we can tell from his side part and his love of animals). Their sister is a talented fencer, but she doesn't believe Jared until it's almost too late.

What's more, the kids are trapped in a sort of haunted house together, after having their whole world uprooted when their parents' marriage ended. It's a crucible of stress that kids will understand and vicariously enjoy.

The movie isn't particularly gory, though Simon does get some cuts on his leg, and quite a few goblins shed green blood in various places. Even so, it's suspenseful, and probably not a great choice for kids younger than 8, unless they enjoy a bit of a bumpy ride. It's rated PG for scary creature action and violence.

The mythological sidekicks are also a lot of fun. Martin Short voices Thimbletack, who alternates from being a cute little brownie to an enraged, green boggart when he's ignored or disobeyed. Only honey can calm him. Another sidekick, a pig-nosed hobgoblin named Hogsqueal (voiced by Seth Rogen), provides more comic relief. He climbs trees in search of irresistibly delicious birds and combats evil alongside Jared in the movie's final scene, which owes a bit to Puss 'n' Boots, but is nonetheless a hoot.

What's in It for Grown-ups

Unlike "Harry Potter," "The Spiderwick Chronicles" isn't a series that adults are likely to love on their own. It's just too small a world to engage sophisticated readers. The series was nicely written and very well packaged, which explains much of its popularity.

The movie suffers in the same way. It's well packaged, with a good director and talented cast. Highmore, as usual, is quite good -- he manages to give the twins distinct personalities. Parker, too, is a treat to watch -- finally, a Hollywood mother who isn't overly sweet and filmed through a Vaseline-covered lens. The only disappointment is David Strathairn as Arthur Spiderwick; the Oscar nominee doesn't have great chemistry with the rest of the cast.

"Spiderwick" also has some nice special effects. But in the end, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that a giant ogre -- invisible to the rest of humanity and strong enough to throw a grand piano -- could do a pretty fine job of destroying the world without a handsomely packaged bundle of notes and sketches.

Fortunately, fantasy-loving adults have a bumper crop of adaptations to look forward to this year, including "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." This movie makes for a decent starter course. After a lean pre-Oscars season, more substantial fare can't come soon enough.

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Martha Brockenbrough is author of "It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond." She's also founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes a fun-with-kids column for Cranium.com, as well as an educational humor column for Encarta. Check out her Web site.

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