From the beloved best-selling series of books comes "The Spiderwick Chronicles," a fantasy adventure for the child in all of us. Peculiar things start to happen the moment the Grace family (Jared, his twin brother Simon, sister Mallory and their mom) leave New York and move into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames Jared. When he, Simon and Mallory investigate what's really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and the creatures that inhabit it.


Paramount started pushing this movie months before its release, but it hardly seems worth the effort. If The Golden Compass can’t capture audiences, what hope is their for a third-rate, kid-oriented fantasy franchise like The Spiderwick Chronicles? America’s brief fantasy fascination is over, and if your movie doesn’t contain hobbits, a god-lion, or Harry Potter then forget it. The genre has a few more of these third-rate, last-gasps to shove out into theaters this year, but they all seemed doomed to a quick box office exit. By the time Spiderwick and the other similar fantasy entries this year are done with, maybe Hollywood will finally have gotten the message.

In the meantime, maybe you’re still interested in sitting through this dreck. Spiderwick looks like the movie Bridge to Terabithia was marketed as… and wasn’t. So if you’re one of the people who showed up to Terabithia expecting crummy CGI monsters and were disappointed to get smart, childhood introspection instead, well here’s your film. Crummy CGI abounds. Come on, I can’t be the only one who misses practical effects.

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