| The Spiderwick Chronicles [2008] | ![The Spiderwick Chronicles [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/514c2fAaC3L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge
| Director: Mark Waters
Actors: Seth Rogen, Freddie Highmore, David Strathairn, Martin Short
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £19.99
Buy New: £11.98
You Save: £8.01 (40%)
New (17) Used (7) Collectible (1) from £8.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 175
Format: Pal
Language: Italian (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Running Time: 92 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5014437953537
ASIN: B0015S0S9O
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: July 14, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
|
| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 15 | | NEXT » |
 An old fashioned family adventure with a good balance of drama and fun September 1, 2008
The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of those films that ticks all the right boxes for a traditional family adventure movie. It tells the story of a family who relocate to a spooky mansion in the middle of nowhere (as you do), then start experiencing very strange goings on both within the house and outside it. Things start to go weird when one of the sons finds an old book written by their great Uncle, who mysteriously disappeared many years ago, and is the former owner of the mansion. The book documents the existence of fairies, goblins, ogres and many other mythical creatures, explaining that they are completely invisible to humans and only make themselves visible when they want to. But as soon as this book is found, suddenly these mythical creatures start waging a mini-war against the family, desperately trying to steal the book from them. Fortunately not all the creatures are malevolent and one, a little goblin type creature called Thimbletack the Brownie, helps them in their quest to stop the book falling into evil hands.
The story is very simple and leaves you in no doubt as to who are the bad guys and who are the good guys, there's no shades of grey. The fact that this good vs. evil battle is not on a grand scale and is instead confined just to the family house and the surrounding area gives a more earthly and believable feel to it. As the family try and think of ways to outwit the creatures, they discover more and more about this magical world they have discovered. Just as significantly, they also start to piece together the strange circumstances surrounding their Uncle's disappearance, and start to make sense of this whole bizarre situation.
The special effects are excellent with all the weird and wonderful creatures superbly rendered in CGI. The effects, however, are never over the top and intrusive, letting the storyline take the lead. As well as the genuine sense of wonder that this film creates, there's also an engaging subplot involving the family's own inner turmoil resulting from the Father's separation from the Mother. Ironically, the discovery of this mythical world unites the family and helps them confront and overcome their own emotional problems. So all in all, this film is a very well made family adventure that has something to offer both kids and adults.
 An enchanting family movie August 31, 2008
This is a family movie, it is basicly a fairytale. If that put you off avoid the movie you probably won't enjoy it. The performances are all solid particularly that of Freddie Highmore, at least I think it was him I didn't check before writing this review. The effects are all solid if sometimes unspectacular.
The set up is simple, family move to a new home and find out there is some dark mystery yadda yadda yadda. Much like many horror movies in fact but there isn't much here to scare kids too much, just enough to make it effective. The film stands alone very well so there is no need for a sequel but also there could very well be a follow on story.
 Absolute rubbish! August 13, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Went to see this at the cinema as it was the only film playing and I have never felt so cheated for four quid. It is quite possibly the worst film ever made and it annoys me so much that millions are spent on these types of films when half of the budget for this load of hogwash could have made something brilliant like Little Miss Sunshine or Juno.
The main actor tries to hold the film together but is let down by a terrible cast and the thousands of tacky, unoriginal effects that are thrown in, not to mention the poor script that has been written.
I maybe criticised for being older than the recommended age this is aimed at but if you're a parent thinking of buying this for your child save yourself the money and buy him or her an awesome kids film like Disney Pixar's 'Ratatouille' or one of the Harry Potter's or if you are desperate to find something similar then Jumanji is what I can think of that won't rob you blindly. Seriously don't buy this because you'll end up being the poor person who has to sit down with your child and watch this trash over and over again.
I don't understand why it has been highly rated, no doubt it is parents who have shoved it in the DVD player and it's kept the kids quiet for an hour or two. Don't buy it, it's TERRIBLE!
Spiderwick Chronicles DVD August 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Both my son and I are big fans of the Spiderwick books, my son loves the stories and I'm a big fan of Tony Diterlizzi the illustrator. So we were so excited about the tales and pictures being brought to life in film format. Well, we weren't disappointed! Obviously some artistic licence has been used but it doesn't detract from the main storyline. The effects are great, Freddie is great playing both twins, and Lucinda's flower sprites are lovely! A little bit of nastiness though, we're dealing with goblins after all! hence the PG rating, but if you liked a bit of fantasy in your childhood you'll probably like this.
A magical and enchanting fantasy adventure. July 31, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I rented this on DVD from my local library, and watching it, it occurred to me that I shouldn't have dismissed it as a 'kid's' film and should've gone to see it when it came out at the cinema.
Acting: Well, I'm glad to say, from my point of view the acting's so much better than some wooden performances I've seen in these type of fantasy films. Highmore again handles playing twins very effectively, and he shows emotion really well. Bolger, who plays his older sister Mallory is natural and thankfully not OTT. The Mum's believable as is Strathairn - Arthur Spiderwick himself. There's a touching performance from Plowright as well.
Pacing: I've never read the books, but I have heard that they changed aspects of it, like the children's ages and Hogsqueal's comic relief I didn't feel was that funny. It's a fast-paced; entertaining film, that's easy to follow without prior knowledge from the books and it doesn't outstay it's welcome.
Cinematography and SFX: The effects, especially on the griffin flight are impressive. During the climax, Mulgarath is very creepy and this may scare young or sensitive kids. Special effects on the other CGI creatures, like goblins and beautiful sprites and fairies are dazzling and effective.
Music: Quite a memorable, soaring score that really makes the film. Although it's recycled from Casper, I think it's still good only it would've been better had Horner come up with an original one.
Overall: A magical film for all the family (My Mum loved it as well) - it isn't really squarely aimed at the youngsters alone and it's better than a merely good film a lot of critic's 3/5 had me believe I thought. The ending's so tear jerking and so far this year, it's the most believable and magical fantasy film I've seen, and most importantly it has a heart at it's center and is quite different from Potter and Lord of the Rings etc. I really think this will become something to re-watch time and time again.
Extras: Ah, this wasn't that great - maybe they've put more, better stuff like deleted scenes, interviews with the cast and a commentary on the Blu-ray disc maybe? All we get is four on this 1 disc edition:
Special Features - Spiderwick: It's All True - Introduced by Mark Waters, the director. He tells us how the authors of the books received letters from an actual family on which this film is based and the events supposedly happened to them. He also instructs us to take the precautions used in the film before being shown the creatures from the film in brief summaries: Thimbletack, Hogsqueal, Mulgarath, Redcap, Troll, Sprites, , Sylph and the Griffin. It's 7 mins long.
It's A Spiderwick World! - The story of how the authors, Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly black, were given a letter from three kids, who said that they had had real experiences with faeries and then went on to tell the story in their books. They added their own elements to it, like the names Mulgarath, Timbletack, Hogsqueal and how Arthur Rackham, a children's book illustrator, inspired Arthur Spiderwick and they came up with the name Spiderwick to evoke a eerie Victorian, gothic feel. The names of the children who sent the letter isn't the same as the ones in the film and you can't contact them. They changed the boys and Mallory's ages and why they thought Mark Waters was the best director for it. He says he likes it wide age appeal and the believability and plausibility of it, if you had the Seeing Stone. It's nearly 9 mins long.
Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide - Here you briefly see a snoring Timbletack, before a Table of Contents is opened in the elusive book, with the pages: Boggart, Brownie, Sprite, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Ogre, Griffin, Troll, Seeing Stone and Protection from Magical Creatures. On each two page of illustrations and short info, you have a option `See In Film' to see a short clip from the film showing the creature or thing in question.
Field Guide: In-Movie Mode - This doesn't give any extra info really, all it is is a branching feature, when you're watching the film, you click on the red Field Guide symbol and this takes you to, you guessed it, the Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide feature written above. A lot of the time, you get the symbol twice in quick succession of each other, for the same creature on screen and it takes you to the same page, whatever it is - Boggart, Brownie etc. Don't use this unless you've not viewed the above extra. 5/10 for the extras.
|
|
|
