Alerts are turned of folks as I have no time presently. I may reappear again on Ciao but not for the...
Alerts are turned of folks as I have no time presently. I may reappear again on Ciao but not for the forseeable future. Take care and have a great Summer
Member since:27.10.2006
Reviews:289
Members who trust:111
Do you still believe in fairies? Well whether you do, or do not, I would think that you might enjoy watching the shenanigans of these little creatures in the Spiderwick Chronicles. This film is rated as PG and it is really a children's film but I guess that it will appeal to a wide age range of viewer. In fact if I was still a child, a proper one I mean, I think that it would be a little to frightening for me. However, with children these days being made of hardier stuff, I think that the Spiderwick Chronicles is good all round family entertainment, though possibly not for the very young.
The story centres around the Grace family who, as their father has recently moved out of the family home, have to move to somewhere that they can afford. The Mum and three children move into a old mansion house in the country which used to belong to a distant great uncle and aunt. Within a short space of time strange things start to happen in this old house and it becomes evident that something else is living with them. Is it a person? No. Suffice to say there are peculiar creatures inhabiting the house and it's grounds. As the tale unfolds as to what happened to Arthur Spiderwick and his family 80 years earlier the Grace family become involved in a fantastical world of fairies, goblins and a terrible ogre.
The cast includes:- Freddie Highmore Mary-Louise Parker Nick Nolte Sarah Bolger Andrew McCarthy Joan Plowright David Strathairn
The Spiderwick Chronicles was released on DVD in 2008.
It is PG rated due to it's fantasy themes, creature violence and sense of peril.
Recommended?
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I understand that it is adapted from the book of the same name. Now I have never read the book and so I suppose that for avid reader fans this film may disappoint. For me I liked the slightly quirky story. The actors, especially the children, all played their roles well. The fantasy creatures were as is expected these days with all the benefits of CGI, computer graphics, and advanced special effects. The goblins were sufficiently scary to even make me wince a little. The fairies were portrayed excellently. Although this film is about defeating the ogre, on a basic level, it is also about children's relationships with their family, especially their father. There was the odd funny moment, even some laugh out loud ones.
The DVD's extras include:- Special features. Scene selection. Subtitles.
There are four special features:
One of the special features, Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide, has all of the magical creatures identified. These can then be seen in the film.
Spiderwick: It's all true, explains how all of the story is true. I certainly hope its not!.
It's a Spiderwick World. More comparison to the real Spiderwick
Field Guide in Movie Mode. If you watch the film in this mode you can have a guide and be interactive as you view.
Conclusion.
As a Harry Potter fan I thought that there was the odd small similarity with this film and the Harry Potter tale such as the flying Griffin. I watched this film knowing nothing of it s background or its written version and maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much.
So if you enjoy children's filmsm and like the fantasy typem then this film could be for you. I could easily watch it again, and probably will.
A very good review of the film and extras, although I see this has been posted in the category for the Blu-Ray DVD, but mentions nothing about the new Blu-Ray format. Given that this has been posted in this specialised category, I would like to know about the quality of the new format.
lazza123 11.09.2008 11:52
May well be a film we would like, I'll have to check it out. Larry
Advantages: A lovely translation of the books' original style melded with strong writing, direction and acting. Disadvantages: It might be a bit too scary for younger children.
Sep 10th, 2008
(Oct 7th, 2008)
very helpful by (98%):
off topic by (3%):
