Movie Review:

The Spiderwick Chronicles

by Christina C.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is about a boy named Jared who moves into the mysterious, creepy, long abandoned Spiderwick Estate along with his twin brother, Simon, his older sister, Mallory, and their mother. Jared is not on best terms with his mother and would rather be in New York with their father instead of the middle of nowhere, especially when this ‘nowhere’ turns out to be right in the middle of Danger, with a capital ‘D’. This ‘danger’ all starts when Jared finds a book with a warning on it, warning to NOT open the book. Unfortunately, this had the same result as someone saying to you ‘don’t look down!’, because then the first thing you do is, surprise, look down.

I thought that this was a great movie. The movie was very smooth and had a fast pace that did not leave you behind. The movie had really nice CG effects, I especially liked when you would see nothing until you look through a magical stone and saw a fairy, a goblin or something that you would call ‘out of the ordinary’.

I really, really enjoyed this movie. It had some very good jokes that I really enjoyed (especially one about Star Trek). This story was written as a book first but, unlike other movies that I have seen, does not feel like you miss anything because you have not read the book. I didn’t read the book, and I didn’t feel lost or confused just because I didn’t read the book. And now, after watching this movie, it makes me want to read the books! Unfortunately, my brother and sister did not see this movie. My sister says that it looks ‘silly’, but I think that she would really enjoy this movie. This is a movie that I highly recommend that you watch.

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This movie is rated PG for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements.

Official Movie Web Site - The Spiderwick Chronicles

Pictures courtesy of and copyright Paramount Pictures, 2008