The Spiderwick Chronicles

I didn’t really know anything about this movie when we started watching it. I vaguely remember seeing the YA novel it’s based on in the stores, but that’s it. So I really had an open mind about it.

The set-up is pretty standard: recently-divorced (or in the process of getting a divorce; it don’t think it’s ever made clear which) mom and her three kids – teen-age daughter and adolescent twin sons – move into a creepy old house belonging to the mom’s crazy old aunt who’s now in a mental institution. One of the boys finds a hidden dumbwaiter that leads to a hidden room in which he finds an old book written by the crazy old aunt’s father, Arthur Spiderwick, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Strange things begin to happen, nobody believes the boy at first, but before you know it, all three kids are in danger and the old house is under siege from a horde of supernatural creatures who want Arthur Spiderwick’s book. Turns out the crazy old aunt isn’t so crazy after all.

Nothing in this movie is very surprising, but it’s so well-done that I found it pretty enjoyable anyway. Considering the PG rating, it’s rather creepy at times, and there’s a surprising amount of hacking and slashing (the teenage daughter is a fencer) and goblin blood being spilled. The special effects aren’t too heavy-handed. The kid actors are pretty good, and Nick Nolte and David Straitharn have cameos as the human incarnation of a monster and Arthur Spiderwick, respectively. This is a nice little fantasy film that’s well worth watching. I might even read some of the books in the series. (I think there’s more than one, but I haven’t checked to be sure.)