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Divorcee Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) and her teen-aged children Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and twins Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore in a dual role) move out of New York City into the countryside, to live in an old house inherited from an aunt, Lucinda (Joan Plowright), now in a home for the mentally challenged. The house has been abandoned for 80 years after the mysterious disappearance of Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn), Lucinda’s father. Not wanting to hurt her children, Helen conceals the fact that her husband has actually left them for another woman. Unaware of this, Jared cannot understand why his father cannot visit them as he promises; this makes him a problematic child, stubbornly keeping to himself and forever looking for trouble by poking into the nooks and crannies of the old house. He soon discovers Arthur Spiderwick’s “field guide” to the unseen world, and, defying all warnings not to open it, unleashes a chain of events that manifest the presence of evil powers surrounding the house.
Highmore as the identical twins Jared and Simon will be remembered for Finding Neverland, August Rush and The Golden Compass, films that have so far attested to his gifts as an actor. In The Spiderwick Chronicles, he outdoes himself by playing two very different characters: one rebellious, the other, not. Mary-Louise Parker delivers a solid performance as the strong mother with a secret. The plausible plot and the cast’s performance put The Spiderwick Chronicles notches above the ordinary fantasy movie—for your own good it won’t carry you away to a make-believe world as it anchors you to down-to-earth realities that form the spine of the story. Even the elves and fairies project human qualities, and the ogres and goblins manage to look menacing without giving you a “digital feel” commonly accompanying computer-generated monsters.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is not only good entertainment for the whole family—it even offers food for thought. What grounds it is the terrific interweaving of the unseen world and everyday, in-your-face realities, such as broken families, sibling squabbles, temper tantrums, pragmatic though well-meaning parents, etc. Even the things used to ward off evil are everyday household items: tomato sauce, salt, honey, etc. This movie is safe and wholesome enough to merit a PG-13 rating by CINEMA, but care should be taken in explaining things to younger children, differentiating for them between fact and fiction. Yes, there is definitely an “unseen world” (otherwise what for is faith?), thus guide the children to pay attention to what’s going on behind what they see. (Case in point: when a boy stabs his father after he declares his love for the former.) The Spiderwick Chronicles should give children a good exercise in discernment.
(Date Reviewed: 21 February 2008)
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