The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Directed by Mark Waters
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.
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Jared's brainy twin Simon looks identical, no doubt because he is also played by Freddie Highmore, born in 1992, a gifted young actor best known for " Finding Neverland ," " August Rush " and " The Golden Compass ."
They include newly divorced Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker), a relative of the Spiderwicks; her daughter, Mallory (Sarah Bolger); and her 15-year-old twins, Simon and Jared (both played by the dangerously too-adorable but always camera-ready Freddie Highmore, Johnny Depp’s inspiration for Peter Pan in Finding Neverland).
Freddie Highmore, already deservedly praised for his performances in "Finding Neverland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," continues to impress in his dual roles here.
Highmore (Finding Neverland, August Rush) is scary-great.
Still, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" has been executed with competence and good taste by director Mark Waters ("Mean Girls," "Freaky Friday"), who has enlisted a commendably classy cast in the effort: David Strathairn and Joan Plowright, as Arthur and his now-elderly daughter, Lucinda, add a deep touch of pathos to the proceedings, and the young Highmore ("Finding Neverland") does a credible job of delineating his two temperamentally different characters (although he does something very unattractive with his mouth as Jared, an affectation that he will, one hopes, soon retire).
Mark Waters (Disney's "Freaky Friday" remake) directs; Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, and yes, *that* John Sayles pen the untaxing screenplay; David Strathairn appears as Arthur Spiderwick mostly in equally untaxing sepia-toned flashbacks (no huffing and puffing up mountainsides for him this time out); and everyone's favorite stuffy grandmotherly British type Joan Plowright ("Widows' Peak," etc.) plays Great Aunt Lucinda, safely squirreled away at the local sanatorium on account of her obsessive culinary indulgences: salt, honey, and spaghetti sauce.
Director Mark Waters (The House of Yes, Mean Girls) shapes the tone of the film almost like that of a Joe Dante (Gremlins) movie.
Adventures are only fun when the stakes are high, and while younger children may not be able to deal with the tension and occasional scares, kids who love The Princess Bride and can handle Voldemort will be thrilled to find a movie that doesn’t think they’re wimps.
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While this supernatural "Home Alone" scenario is trite, the story generates surprising emotional power with its portrayal of feckless or menacing father figures.
While we're all waiting for "Prince Caspian," the second installment of "The Chronicles of Narnia," to arrive in theaters this May (or, to a lesser extent, the next go-round of "The Chronicles of Riddick," with Vin Diesel), "The Spiderwick Chronicles" might just suffice as an airy-fairy stopgap measure.
As adapted by Karey Kirkpatrick ("Charlotte's Web"), David Berenbaum ("Elf") and John Sayles ("Lone Star," "Honeydripper"), the series of five illustrated books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black have been compacted into one feature length film that dispenses with the river troll and dwarves and relegates the griffin to a cameo.
When Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker, SHOTime's "Weeds") splits from her husband and finances dictate she must move her family from New York City to her aunt's old run down mansion in the middle of nowhere, teenage daughter Mallory (Sarah Bolger, "In America") is supportive and younger son Simon (Freddie Highmore, "Neverland," "August Rush") goes along, but Simon's twin Jared (also Highmore) reacts with silent rage.
(At this point, Helen has come home from work and joined her kids in battle; Parker wears the very same expression as she does on "Weeds" when the DEA is about to raid her character's grow house.)
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Smartly directed by Mark Waters (“Mean Girls,” “The House of Yes”), the film expertly introduces audiences to its world, explains the rules and the consequences at stake, and even creates some interesting human characters.
Directed by Mark Waters ( Freaky Friday ), co-written by John Sayles, and based on a popular literary franchise, this assembly-line product has darker, more appealing human qualities than something like The Golden Compass .
Helmer Mark Waters, who previously directed House of Yes (one of my favorite films ever), Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, knows what he's doing when it comes to this target market, and the directing is solid here as well.
So it's not altogether surprising that Mark Waters' ("Freaky Friday," "Mean Girls") adaptation of "The Spiderwick Chronicles" suffers slightly from that not-so-fresh feeling.
Director Mark Waters ("Mean Girls," "Freaky Friday") and scripters John Sayles, Karey Kirkpatrick and David Berenbaum know that when it comes to scaring today's kids, the Brothers Grimm have nothing on Dr. Freud.
Mark Waters (Disney's "Freaky Friday" remake) directs; Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, and yes, *that* John Sayles pen the untaxing screenplay; David Strathairn appears as Arthur Spiderwick mostly in equally untaxing sepia-toned flashbacks (no huffing and puffing up mountainsides for him this time out); and everyone's favorite stuffy grandmotherly British type Joan Plowright ("Widows' Peak," etc.) plays Great Aunt Lucinda, safely squirreled away at the local sanatorium on account of her obsessive culinary indulgences: salt, honey, and spaghetti sauce.
After conquering the teenage girl market with Lindsay Lohan's "Freaky Friday" and "Mean Girls," director Mark Waters turns to teenage boy fantasy (and potential franchise) with "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and proves quite adept at handling large scale special effects without overwhelming the intimacy of the story.