Click here to purchase The Spiderwick Chronicles starring: Freddie Highmore on DVD
The Spiderwick Chronicles

2008

Starring: Freddie Highmore

Rating: 3.5

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. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" is based on the series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.

The movie was definitely cute, but not quite a kids movie. It would have terrified me as a child. Also, I wish that they had made the movie a bit longer. It felt to me as if they left out a lot of the story. They went to all the work of creating the characters (faeries, goblins, mulgrath), but didn't give them enough screen time.

It was fun to see Freddie Highmore play two roles in the same movie though. The acting was well done, and the animation was fantastic.

Definitely see "The Spiderwick Chronicles". It's a fun movie. But, maybe watch it yourself before you set your kids down in front of it. The story was great, I just wish it were longer and more in-depth.