I miss movies like these, fantastic fantasy films that influenced reading without giving us a PSA or shoving religion down our throats. I miss films like “Neverending Story” or “Dark Crystal” that explored a whole world beyond ours without watering down a story. “The Spiderwick Chronicles” is that throwback to the classic fantasy kids films with violence, suggestive language, and edgy action that kept the line between kids film and teen film very very thin. Surprisingly mixed in reviews upon its release, I am saddened that Mark Waters’ family fantasy flick wasn’t more universally embraced as it should have been.
Because I had a blast from beginning to end; though I’ve never read the books, the deviation from the source material is almost excellent with a great story that takes three tweens in to a world within their world where an evil all powerful ogre is hoping to grab the Spiderwick Field Guide, a comprehensive encyclopedia of the creatures outside their mansion, and rule the world with its information. Filled with a cast of respective heavyweights like David Strathairn, Nick Nolte, Freddy Highmore and Mary Louis Parker, to name a few, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” is a simple but epic adventure where a simple book leads to a massive quest to save the magical world which will in turn save our world and through that director Waters brings us a story with obviously paralleling storylines about parental abandonment while always delivering such themes with subtlety which is what modern fantasy films have lacked.
We all knew “The Bridge to Terabithia” was about religion and a God, and we all knew “The Last Mimzy” was about mysticism and Buddhism, but most of “Spiderwick’s” themes are left on the back burner to develop as the story progresses and this gives time for us to care about the characters and become engrossed in the surprise climactic development involving our demented villain’s parlor games. Most of the action and creature effects may frighten some children, but it’s that consistent edge that’s been missing from most fantasy flicks where our heroes actually hurt our villains regardless of how intense it may seem to some viewers. And thanks to some top notch choreography, we’re left with some dazzling action sequences particularly when heroine Mallory is attacked by the goblins and left to fend for herself with her sword.
It’s a wonderful sequence that brings a hint of swashbuckling whimsy to the proceedings. Waters continues on a healthy trend of involving characterization and top notch performances, along with a classic “Straw Dogs” climax where our hopelessly outnumbered heroes are left with their wits and weapons against monsters at their doorsteps. It’s a risqué dose of interspecies war that really hints at something bigger beyond Mulgarath. We just don’t get good children’s entertainment like this anymore and there isn’t enough I can say about “The Spiderwick Chronicles” beyond the simple declaration that it’s probably one of my favorites of 2008, and while there are many other contenders at the gate, I think it will make the grain. Though the second half is anti-climactic, the first half more than makes up for the shortcomings.