Spiderwick Chronicles Offers a Mixed Bag of Family Fun

spiderwick-chronicles12Over the past decade, the big wigs in Hollywood have decided to make a multifarious amount of family-oriented fantasy films. However, despite the legion of films released within this new genre, most of them revel in mediocrity. For every “Chronicles of Narnia,” and “Lemony Snicket” out there, there are dozens more that can’t cut the cinematic mustard.

Let’s just say that “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” directed by Mark Waters [“Mean Girls,” “Freaky Friday”] isn’t the type of film that is comparable to the upper-echelon films of the genre, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t an enjoyable 97-minute experience for some people.

Starring Freddie Highmore [“Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, “The Golden Compass] in a double-role as twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” has plenty of things going for it, like a colorful cast of characters and solid special effects, they just aren’t in a large enough quantity to make you want to jump for joy.

For instance, the magical land the no one else can see in the film is an extremely colorful one. The whole idea [which is based on the book written by Holly Black] is an excellent one as well, but it’s not developed as much as a great film should be.

There simply isn’t enough interaction between the rest of the world and the evil forces to make the movie-goer think that the threat being fought against is a serious one. You never get the feeling that the world really depends on the actions of Jared, Simon and their older sister, Mallory, played by Sarah Bolger [“Premonition,” “Tara Road”]. Instead, get the feeling that everything is going to end up okay.

Not exactly the right frame of mind to be in when watching a fantasy film.

The performance of Nick Nolte [“Hulk,” “Hotel Rwanda”] as the voice of the main baddy, Mulgarath, doesn’t do much to amplify the strong points of the film either. For a mystical being that is supposed to be leading a global coupe-de-tat, Mulgarath isn’t too intimidating. While his role in the film isn’t as important as Highmore’s or Bolger’s, having an impressive villain could have been the thing that got this film over the proverbial two-star hump it got itself in.

Unfortunately, the entire plot and story arc have similar problems as well. The film concludes with all the ends being tied up in a pretty little bow and doesn’t really leave anything for the imagination. Considering the fact that the whole object of a film such as this is to extend disbelief, always knowing that everything is going to be all right isn’t a good one.

However, despite its lack of depth and story polish, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” has enough charming, witty and endearing parts in it that young children will beg to see it again and again. Adults however, will be satisfied with one viewing and will be left pondering what could have been, rather than accepting the film for what it really is: average, with promise.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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