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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I can't agree that fantasy is played out as a genre. LOTR and Narnia did well because they're beloved literary classics and the film adaptations were very good and faithful to the source material. The problem with the recent spate of fantasy films is they're based not on classics but on trendy fad books (Eragon, Compass, Spiderwick and next year's Inkheart). Also, they've all been poorly marketed, unlike Potter (which is also a fad but has been hyped from here to eternity in the mass media).
Hollywood snapped up all these properties after LOTR went through the roof, expecting mediocrity to appeal as much as quality. How wrong they were.
I can't wait for The Spiderwick Chronicles. I must admit, I'm one of those people who do enjoy fantasy, though not "The Golden Compass" and "Eragon." In my opinion, they weren't worthy to be called good fantasy. In any case, I'm hoping that this new movie shall be much better than those two, and while it may not live up to "Narnia," it hopefully has the star power (namely, Freddie Highmore) that will bring the box office up a bit.
Fantasy is not "teribithia" your right. -that movie was "smart" and very boring too...kids just want there imagination intrigued.....movies are supposed to be entertaining escapism.....LOTR did a great job with it's special effects, and if golum is considered "crummy CGI" I am more than happy with it.....bring on the fantasy fillms......its an awsome genre, and more movies should be made......
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February 11, 2008 at 16:27
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