Loganotron

On the plane to NY last week I watched The Spiderwick Chronicles. I generally liked the fantasy aspect of the movie. The part I didn’t like was the way the kid treats his mom. There’s this whole heavy story line of the dad cheating on the mom, the mom moving with her kids to her aunt’s spooky house in the woods, and the mom not telling the youngest son that the dad cheated At one point Jared even yells at his mom, “I hate you.” I thought that was really out of place and unsettling. The whole family drama aspect was not well executed or well integrated into the rest of the story.

I was impressed with the magical creatures and the fantasy world as a whole. Visually the creatures were fun and amazing. Yet, the director still managed to convey a sense of ominous danger in the creatures too. For example, when the kids go to visit their great aunt in the sanitarium, she is surrounded by these beautiful flower fairies that flit about. However, the second the boy reveals that he’s brought the book of spells with him (a big no-no) the fairy creatures start to chirp in an agitated way that reveals their fierce nature.

I’d say this was a good movie with a dark fantasy world. I like fantasy that doesn’t play it too light, and gets heavy and intense. It’s the same reason I didn’t like the first few Harry Potter books/movies and thought the last books/movies were far better. My only complaint is the awkward family drama element in the movie. Other than that, I think this is a great movie for kids to watch. Also, I had no idea until I just looked the movie up on IMDb that Freddie Highmore played the roles of both Simon and Jared Grace.