The Spiderwick Chronicles

[akiratubo]

A boy named Jared finds a book detailing the magical world around us that no one can see.  The book gets him in trouble because an evil ogre wants the book to ... do something or another.

I generally like fantasy films, but I did not like The Spiderwick Chronicles.

The characters were unlikable.  The main character, Jared, is a gaping cock hole who constantly makes trouble for his single Mother and never misses an opportunity to let her know he hates her.  His brother, Simon, is so underdeveloped I can't remember anything about him besides his name.  Their older sister, Mallory, is an incredible b***h.  Their poor mother seems to be one minor annoyance away from going completely bonkers.  (They all learn An Important Lesson by the end of the movie.  Shocking, I know.)  There are some attempts as characterization, but they all fall flat.  Jared is an a***ole pretty consistently, but that's not a very good characteristic for a main character to have.  Simon is smart, allegedly, but it never does him any good.  Mallory can sword fight but that really only comes into play for one scene, and it's a comic relief scene.

The fantasy creatures were as underdeveloped as Simon, and there aren't many of them.  We have a little gnome thing who loves honey and occasionally turns into the Hulk, a disgusting pig thing, goblins who look exactly like big frogs (except for the one who's a dead ringer for Davey Jones from the Pirates of the Carribbean sequels), and an Ogre named Mulgreth, Mulgrath, or Mulgarath, depending on who's saying his name at the time.  (Nick Nolte provides the one shining point in the movie by voicing the ogre and playing his human form.)

Underdeveloped characters and villains need not sink a movie, at least not completely, but the people making the movie seem to have been of the "point the camera at stuff" school of filmmaking.  Nothing has any dramatic impact because, seriously, the director just pointed his camera at stuff and hoped it would magically gel into a compelling fantasy adventure.  Goblin attack?  Big deal.  Subterannean troll monster?  Feh.  Huge ogre with Nick Nolte's voice?  Zzzzzzz.

There were a couple of good moments.  Number one: When faced with goblins and a giant ogre who want the magic book Jared found, the kids decide to BURN the book.  Go back and read that again.  The heroes in a childrens' fantasy film decided to destroy the magic object that's causing them so much trouble.  Amazing. (The book can't be destroyed but, still, I appreciate the kids' initiative.  Too bad they sucked so much for the rest of the movie).

Good moment number two is the goblins' final attack on the kids' house.  It recalls Night of the Living Dead and even manages to be scary and exciting for a minute or two.  It's almost as if that footage wandered in from another, better movie.

Overall, kids might like it, but it's really not something an adult would get much out of.  At least, THIS adult didn't.

[indianasmith]

I watched this with my wife and kids last night, and we loved it!!  For us, the chemistry between the characters worked well, and the movie was just a lot of fun.  I particularly loved the little pig creature!  I was actually going to post this in the "Good Movies" section last night, but I was too tired.  Just goes to show . . .

different strokes for different folks!!!

[akiratubo]

You, sir, are insane. 

[ER]

I haven't yet seen the movie but I read the books, and sadly thought the storyline was rushed and a little bland.

BUT my first exposure to Spiderwicks was through an anthology that detailed all the creatures mentioned in the series, and this anthology was absolutely cool as heck. A massive amount of thought went into the populating of the Spiderwicks setting, and I was left excited that something this amazing was actually out there.

However I went from enthusiastic about how original the world in Spiderwicks sounded to...slightly less pleased when I discovered that all these imaginative creatures were misused as they were in the lackluster novels.

I'll reserve judgment on the movie, though, and hope it'll restore my higher regard for what Spiderwicks should have been. It looked good in previews!