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Spiderwick Chronicles, The

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 37 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Adventure | Drama | Family/Kids | Fantasy
Written by: John Sayles
Directed by: Mark Waters
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 14, 2008
DVD: June 24, 2008
Running Time: 97 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for scary creature action and violence, peril and some thematic elements
Starring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn, Seth Rogen, and Martin Short
From the beloved best-selling series of books comes The Spiderwick Chronicles, a fantasy adventure for the child in all of us. Peculiar things start to happen the moment the Grace family (Jared, his twin brother Simon, his sister Mallory, and their mom) leaves New York and moves into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames Jared. When he, Simon, and Mallory investigate what's really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate, as well as the creatures that inhabit it. (Paramount Picture)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Freaky Friday Head Over Heels Just Like Heaven Mean Girls The House of Yes
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Director Mark Waters does a fine job meshing the fantastical with the quotidian.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A well-crafted family thriller that is truly scary and doesn't wimp out.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The film underscores the power of reading, and applying what we read to problem-solving. The story suggests that we don't really see the natural world around us, and if we did our lives, like Jared's and his siblings', would be immeasurably richer.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Not great fantasy, but it's on more solid ground than "The Golden Compass" and will seem less baffling to some. There's enough here to keep adults engaged, which is an important component of any motion picture that wants to be known as "family entertainment."
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson
A fast-moving adventure with more than dynamic glitz to recommend it.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle David Wiegand
A mostly superb cast, superior special effects, a sparkling musical score and a fantasy-filled plot .
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie is funny and scary and touching in all the ways the best children's pictures are, but it is also fast and compact, running a perfectly paced 93 minutes (including credits).
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
A decent entertainment -- not up there with the "Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings" sagas, but a notch above "The Golden Compass" and "Narnia."
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall
Meticulously rendered CGI creatures--from Arthur Rackham-esque flower sprites to a troll that could have sprung from "Jurassic Park"--spike this dark adventure, shot marvelously by Caleb Deschanel.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The children's real world, or what passes for real in a fantasy, could hardly be more inviting, for reasons that are hardly mysterious: the strong performances, under Mark Waters's accomplished direction; the smart, bright language, much of it taken from the books; the stylish cinematography, by Caleb Deschanel.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ella Taylor
The movie's richly autumnal look is by swift turns cozily naturalistic and terrifyingly baroque, and director Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls) sustains the balance between real and surreal with mischievous brio.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
An enjoyable adventure fantasy that pushes all the requisite buttons while still managing to throw in a pleasant surprise or two.
Read Full Review >Variety Justin Chang
A work of both modest enchantment and enchanting modesty, grounded in a classically Spielbergian realm where childlike wonderment crosses paths with the tough realities of young adulthood.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
Suffers slightly from that not-so-fresh feeling.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Spiderwick is set in the present, but goes for an overall design look of dainty, cozy, William Morris-y arts-andcraftiness.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Steve Davis
Starts off promisingly by empathetically depicting the fear and anger children feel when their parents separate, but ultimately its human emotions are dominated by goblins, trolls, and other CGI-generated creatures running amok on the screen.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Anyone looking for handsomely presented, kid-friendly thrills need look no further.
Read Full Review >Premiere Karl Rozemeyer
Perhaps Highmore could have tried a little harder to make us doubt for a moment that, once again, Good will inevitably overcome Evil.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
It's a good movie for its type, but it rarely stops to let us marvel at the world it creates.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
A world designed for children, and most of the grownups involved don't quite understand it - on or offscreen.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Unlike Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth," which was also inspired by Rackham, The Spiderwick Chronicles is more whimsical than scary.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
We're supposed to be agog at the fantastical creatures and dazzling special effects. But the more wrenching story of disillusioned children nags in the background, distracting from any enchantment.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
Once “Spiderwick” gets to the fantasy, the story gets going.
Read Full Review >Empire Sam Toy
A late entry in a crowded field, Spiderwick works hard to set itself apart from the competition, and almost entirely succeeds - no mean feat these days.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Maybe it's fantasy fatigue, but for all the pretty effects and breathless chases and goblin war battles, the sense of wonder and magic is lost in the shuffle.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The obvious product of a corporate search for the next great fantasy franchise, this adaptation of the first in a series of popular children's books by the writer-illustrator team of Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi is a lump of leaden whimsy.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Spiderwick. There’s nothing wrong with it that passion and personality couldn’t fix.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Overrun with malicious goblins, a vengeance-minded pig, a fast-moving troll and a giant horned ogre, but the true source of terror is scarier than all of these combined: New York real estate prices.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Instead of the kind of inspired imaginative synergy that distinguished the “Lord of the Rings” and later “Harry Potter” pictures, this movie, directed by Mark Waters (“Mean Girls”), feels more like a sloppy, secondhand pander.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 37 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Shane C gave it a1:
Family friendly fantasy movies ...........not the sun kills his father at the end ... my 10yr daughter freeked out... i was like what the f just happen in a pg movie ... movie was just not the same after that.
Mona A. gave it a10:
This is a great family fun film. Viewers will be engaged in the fast moving plot that offers a slightly different view of the fantastical world from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Any one who enjoys fantasy films will enjoy this movie.
John A. gave it a9:
Great story, well performed and cast. Great Great Great - best fantasy movie since Lord of the Rings.
Chad S. gave it an8:
When the daft old woman who converses with flowers was a child, she told authorities the truth about her missing father and the jagged gashes on her arm. Since the girl's pa was vaporized in midair levitation by a vortex of whorling white moths, and her nasty cuts came about from a confrontation with malevolent woodland creatures from another realm, she should've lied. The old woman is named Lucinda Spiderwick(Joan Plowright). Her father Arthur(David Strathairn) wrote a field guide that collated in totality all the otherworldly creatures that roamed in the woods of his backyard. As any writer will tell you, the act of edifying fabrications onto paper alchemizes lies into half-truths, as the flight of fancy transports the reader into a world of its own making. In "The Spiderwick Chronicles", Arthur's scholarly pursuits literally isolates him from the people he loves, and Lucinda, like many children of self-absorbed intellectuals, grew up without a father. When the Grace children coaxes Lucinda into talking about her father's book "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical", the viewer realizes that Lucinda would sound like a madwoman in any other context, except for the context of the sci-fi/fantasy genre. The authorities who institutionalized Lucinda mistook her lucid report of the fourth dimension as the rantings of a severely disturbed child. But Jared Grace(Freddy Highmore) knows that the old woman isn't off her rocker, and so does his twin brother Simon and sister Mallory(Sarah Bolger). The Grace children are like home-schooled Harry Potters. They don't have to board a magic train that's headed towards some haute-toite school of hocus-pocus for enchantment. That's why "The Spiderwick Chronicles" has more in common with the aesthetics of eighties-era Spielberg than the J.K. Rowling books. Bits of "E.T.", "Gremlins", "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", and "The Goonies" can be gleaned from this sometimes astute children's film about how a father's compartmentalization of his interior life sprung a leak and spilled over into his personal one. All the nifty CGI effects in the world can't hide the fact that "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is actually a movie about a derelict dad.
Jay H. gave it an8:
Enthralling fantasy, wonderfully imaginative with excellent special effects. Beautifully done, excellent pace and exciting. Fun and very entertaining.
Luis G. gave it a6:
Take the kids i enjoyed this darker blend of fantasy high on thematic elements so beware.... visually stunning... another spring treat.
Wendi gave it a10:
Love! Love! Love! Amazing movie.
