the spiderwick

Following on the successes of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, The Spiderwick Chronicles marks yet another attempt of the movie industry to take advantage of audiences' fleeting interest in fantasy movies based on novels.

The film revolves around the slightly dysfunctional Grace family, descendants of faerie enthusiast Arthur Spiderwick. Arthur collected and documented every last bit of information about the magical world that is invisible to most humans in a book, but the concentration of knowledge is dangerous in the wrong hands. Protagonist Jared (Freddie Highmore) of course reads the book and, in the process, awakens an evil ogre hellbent on obtaining the knowledge hidden within the book to destroy mankind. In a plot cluttered with clichés, the three Grace children must defend the tome from hardly frightening, CGI goblins and the ogre to save the world.

Strangely, both Grace boys, Simon and Jared, are played by Highmore. While Highmore gives an average performance, the scenes in which he argues with himself are unusually creepy. His voice for both characters is eerily identical, making them indistinguishable. The rest of the actors perform adequately and don't make the few serious scenes too awkward. The adults seem the most out of place in this world of children and make-believe.

Director Mark Waters (Freaky Friday, Mean Girls) has had success with movies targeted at young adult audiences in the past. Unfortunately, the film's plot is underdeveloped and the characters are stereotypical and thin. With a significant amount of deus ex machina, the movie ends in just over an hour and a half. These shortcuts make the movie easy to handle for young children, but hurt the appeal of the movie to older audiences. Some older members of the audience, however, may recognize Seth Rogen, who infuses the movie with some life as Hogsqueal the hobgoblin. While the movie is enjoyable, it lacks the depth that made previous fantasy movies so successful.

The film is clearly targeted at a younger audience than The Lord of the Rings or even the more recent and notably darker Harry Potter films. While the children fight in typical Hollywood sibling rivalry fashion, the mood is mostly light and focuses on themes of trust and cooperation. The children never fire guns or arrows at their assailants, and the aftermath of the final scuffle looks more like the result of a massive food fight than a battle.

With the failure of the much deeper Golden Compass, it appears that America's fascination with fantasy has ended, and it certainly does not appear that The Spiderwick Chronicles will change that.