Spiderwick Chronicles
Not having a chance to read the book series before seeing the screen adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles I went into the viewing with zero expectation and no predetermined notions of how the movie should be.
The storyline revolves around the experiences of the children of Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) a newly divorced mother who inherits her uncle’s forest secluded mansion. The daughter Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and the two twin sons Simon and Jared (Freddie Highmore) find themselves fighting a fantastic battle against goblins, trolls and a mighty ogre after unwittingly calling their attention to a book full of secret information regarding all types of mystical and magical creatures.
The storyline is engaging but short. As I understand it the book series consists of five novels and to condense that into a 90 minute movie means a lot must have been left out of the movie. The computer generated graphics for all of the mystical creatures was par for a movie these days without nothing really standing out either good or bad.
If you like fantasy films you will probably enjoy the film however if you are a fan of the books you may be dissapointed by the lack of substance in the film.
I give The Spiderwick Chronicles a 6 Rogueys out of 10.