The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

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.

Director:

Mark Waters

Writers:

Karey Kirkpatrick (screenplay), David Berenbaum (screenplay),

Stars:

Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Sarah Bolger

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Freddie Highmore	...	Jared Grace / Simon Grace
Mary-Louise Parker	...	Helen Grace
Nick Nolte	...	Mulgarath
Sarah Bolger	...	Mallory Grace
Andrew McCarthy	...	Richard Grace
Joan Plowright	...	Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick
David Strathairn	...	Arthur Spiderwick
Seth Rogen	...	Hogsqueal (voice)
Martin Short	...	Thimbletack (voice)
Jordy Benattar	...	Young Lucinda Spiderwick
Tod Fennell	...	Helen's Co-Worker
Mariah Inger	...	Nurse
Jeremy Lavalley	...	Tow Truck Driver
Lise Durocher-Viens	...	Mrs. Spiderwick
Tyler Patrick Jones	...	Additional Performer

Storyline

Once upon a time, 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. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames it all on Jared. When he, Simon and Mallory investigate what's really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it.

---

Plot Keywords:

closing credits sequence | actor playing multiple roles | magic | elf | troll | 

---

Taglines:

Experience Their World In IMAX

---

Genres:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [br] Official site [es]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 February 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Spiderwick Chronicles: The IMAX Experience

Filming Locations:

Montréal, Québec, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,555,791 (UK) (21 March 2008)

Gross:

£10,530,519 (UK) (23 May 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, Kennedy/Marshall Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min 107 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS Sonics-DDP (IMAX version)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The facial features of the brownie Thimbletack bear an uncanny resemblance to those of the great Laurence Olivier. This is most apparent in the scene where Aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright, Olivier's widow) calls him "my little guardian angel".

---

Goofs

Durring the fight scene in the house, Jarred throws several tomato bombs at the invaders. He is shown having only 1 in his hand throughout the scene. But when he throws the bomb and new one appears in his hand.

---

Quotes

Jared Grace: [seeing Thimbletack as a Boggert] And they say *I've* got anger issues.

---

Crazy Credits

In Loving Memory of Scott Rathner

---

Connections

References Star Trek (1966)

User Reviews

The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles is based upon the books of the same name by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black. The film centers around a mother and her three children who move into a mysterious and creepy new house pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The one son Jared who is the main character in the film, finds a book written by the previous owner of the house and Jared soon discovers that this is a magical yet very dangerous book that a lot of goblins and little creatures are after, but with the help of his twin brother, his older sister and some friendly creatures he gets the book to safety and also protects himself and his family from the evil monsters that want the book to do harm. Ever since The Lord Of The Rings and Harry Potter films have done so well, filmmakers are taking other fantasy books and turning them into feature films as well. The majority of them that have been released over the past few years I have not seen because for one thing they did not look appealing to me at all and also because of bad word of mouth and reviews. I wasn't sure what I would think of The Spiderwick Chronicles, but to my surprise I thought it was pretty good. The film is aimed at a family audience even though some young children might be afraid of some scenes, but this is a film that I think kids will absolutely love and there is enough here for the grownups as well. The story sounds simple enough, but it is enhanced by a lot of creative creatures and imaginative things going on. The young cast each did their own and carried the film and even though I don't usually like computer generated effects in films, I didn't feel it was overdone here just for the sake of showing what today's new wonderful technology can do and I really appreciated that the film didn't go overboard with that. The running time moves along fairly briskly and the film is involving and interesting from the start and keeps it's energy and charm throughout the running time. There were a few repeated story patterns and clichés in the script, but there were also a lot of surprises and new takes on things, so that can be forgiven. When looking at a film like this at a child you would like the magic, imagination and the story that is woven in front of you with interesting characters, environments and a grand sense of storytelling that can make the make believe into a fun and entertaining film. This is all captured very well here and works as a fairy tale for kids 8 to whatever age. A creative enough story helped by good film-making and an eye for what kids and adults love about these movies make this film a generally good and above average family fantasy film of the past few years.