The Spiderwick Chronicles (DVD)












The Spiderwick Chronicles

This is one fantasy film that seemed to get it right. Since Harry Potter was brought to life on screen, the bar was raised for fantasy films. Very few films have been able to live up to that kind of movie magic. Now The Spiderwick Chronicles is no Harry Potter. And I think it’s foolish to compare the two since the stories are very different. But for a fantasy film, Spiderwick is a damn good one. Everything seemed to fall into place to make this a fantasy film that everyone can enjoy. There’s some really great acting by talented kid actors in this story that takes you to a world full of magical creatures. It stars Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) who plays two roles as twins Jared and Simon. The twins and their sister Mallory move with their mother out of the city to the Spiderwick Estate. Their parents are getting divorced so they are forced to move. At the new home, Jared uncovers a book titled "Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You". Ignoring the warning to not open the book, he opens it and unintentionally puts his family in danger. Another world not seen by human eyes exists on the estate. And in this world lives an evil ogre named Mulgarath who wants to get the field guide to obtain ultimate power. That’s a threat to the human world too, because with that power he’d be able to destroy the humans. So it’s "do or die" for Jared and his siblings since they now have to find a way to destroy the book. This film has some amazing special effects that make this fantasy world seem so real. The crew that worked on this did an awesome job. In fact, one of the benefits of having the 2-disc edition of the DVD is that you get to see how the film was made, along with interviews with the creators of the Spiderwick book series that inspired the film.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is out now on DVD.

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