The Spiderwick Chronicles [Blu-ray]

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the spiderwick chronicles [blu-ray]

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The Spiderwick Chronicles [Blu-ray]

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Product Description:

From the beloved best-selling series of books comes an extraordinary fantasy adventure revealing the unseen world that exists all around us. From the moment the Grace family moves into a secluded old house peculiar things start to happen. Unable to explain the accidents and strange disappearances the Grace children Jared Simon and Mallory start to investigate and find the unbelievable truth of the Spiderwick Estate and the amazing creatures that inhabit it.System Requirements:Running Time: 101 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: PG UPC: 097361326146 Manufacturer No: 132614

Amazon.com:

A very good adaptation of the popular series of books by Tony DiTerllizi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of the few family films in recent years to seamlessly integrate magical elements with a potent drama that will strike a chord with many kids. An exceptionally talented Freddie Highmore (August Rush) plays twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, caught up in a sad shock from their parents' divorce and coping with a decision by their mother (Mary-Louise Parker) to uproot the boys and their sister, Mallory (Sarah Bolger), from New York City to a small town. There, the broken family moves into a spooky old mansion passed on to them by the kids' great-aunt, Lucinda (Joan Plowright), who is spending her twilight years in managed care and whose scientist father, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn), disappeared some 80 years ago. Jared, angry, defiant, and determined to live with the father who seems to have abandoned him, investigates strange happenings and discovers Arthur's secret notations on fairies, ogres, and other mythical creatures that live both in and outside the house. Having no idea where his curiosity is leading, Jared soon finds that he and his family are under siege from goblins and a powerful ogre (Nick Nolte) who wants Arthur's notebook. Suddenly, the boy who is a lightning rod for a troubled family becomes a resourceful warrior intent on saving his loved ones from powerful forces. The Spiderwick Chronicles benefits enormously from a script (partially written by John Sayles) that treats, quite seriously, the emotional pain of its human characters and makes Jared's will to survive the very real engine of an otherwise fantastic story. It helps, too, that director Mark Waters, who brings a warm and knowing touch to outlandish material (Freaky Friday), has a way of making the spectacular elements of The Spiderwick Chronicles genuine enough to stir real excitement and suspense. This is one of the better film adaptations of best-selling fiction for kids in some years. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-07
Spiderwick Chronicles
If you enjoy fun stories of Ogres, goblins, brownies, fairies, et cetera, you will probably enjoy "The Spiderwick Chronicles". This is a movie that the whole family, not just children should enjoy. A working mother and her three children move to a rural home for economic reasons when her and her husband can't reconcile their differences. The young boy finds a book containing secrets of a mythical world which starts events that will impact the whole world. When he finally convinces his family of the existence of this other world they band together to fight an Ogre and his henchmen. Very entertaining with good special effects. Different from other fantasy movies. I recommend it. Great quality DVD with good replayabilty.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-06
I thoroughly enjoyed this film!!!
I caught this on a plane recently and loved it. It is a fabulous fantasy film for children. Totally creative and whimsical.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-05
Does NOT follow book at all.
First let me say if you did NOT read the books and just want a good film with outstanding and magical special effects for you and your older children then this really is a great choice; go ahead and get this movie and be happy.

If you want to watch the movie and expect it to follow the books you will be greatly disappointed. I am not sure that the Amazon reviewer, Tom Keogh, read the books. This is not a "good adaptation" of the books. The writers of this movie took the characters and then twisted and distorted them into a story vaguely reminiscent of the books. One of the main rewards we use for our children is they can watch the movie if they have read the books. We read the entire 7 Narnia books and have seen the first two movies which are very good (especially Prince Caspian movie).

Let me quickly list just a very few of the differences from the movie and the book off the top of my head (we read the book quite a while ago and just bought the DVD and watched it last night). I am sure there are many more differences but you will get the idea:
1. They don't really play up the love of animals Simon has.
2. There are no Dwarfs/sleeping Mallory in a box scenes.
3. There is no quarry scene.
4. There are no school scenes or mentioning.
5. Jared does not have to solve any mystery to find anything (i.e. like figuring out the riddle of the trunk and that it had a false bottom).
6. They don't have to find the seeing stone Thimbletack just happens to have it and hand it to them/Jared.
7. Mallory and Simon are more antagonistic to Jared and come into believing that there are strange things going on much later.
8. Thimbletack is mostly a green somewhat scary Boggart and very little of the Brownie. He shape shifts before your eyes multiple times and is as addicted to honey as any Meth addict is to their drug.
9. The scene to go find the book is different (Jared goes alone and Simon and Mallory do not help him in the dumbwaiter).
10. The whole story line was changed when they were off to find Simon after he was carried away by the Goblins. Mallory does not go with him and there is no Troll in the water (instead the Troll-which looks more like a giant iguana/dinosaur on steroids- chases them later when they go to see their Aunt).
11. They do not go to see their aunt with their Mom they do through this underground tunnel system chased by a psychotic dinosaur they are saying is a Troll.
12. There is a lot of honey, salt and tomatoes in this movie not found in the book.
13. Hogsqueals initial scene is totally changed; as is his motivation; in the movie he is on some sort of crusade to revenge his family.
14. The Griffin character was changed to Arthur Spiderwicks pet they somehow summon out of thin air and not rescued from the Goblins when trying to free Simon after they discovered Hogsqueal.
15. There are no elves and they do not have to figure out how to get to Arthur Spiderwick (the summoned Griffin just flies there to him.
16. Mulgaraths character is totally changed. He shape shifts into two equally frightening characters, Nick Nolte on his daily dose of drugs and scleral icterus and a demon character that resembles a scary devil.
17. The ending is totally different and has no resemblance to the book. The finale takes place in their house and will scare young children and to my taking would warrant a PG-13 rating. If your kids are desensitized to violence and horror then they will do fine otherwise I would read the stories and let the imagination go. Hope this helps!

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-05
Great kids movie
I'll keep it short and sweet:

never read the books, 7 yr. boy loved it, 3 yr. boy loved it, wife loved it, I liked it a lot. Lets not be so critical. Its a movie made by Nikelodian here folks.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-03
An interesting but somewhat sad fantasy story that is good for families, but not small children
I have not read any of the Spiderwick books, so I am only reviewing the movie.

While there is plenty of fantasy here for kids to enjoy, some aspects of the way the story is told might leave younger kids a big confused. However, I don't think they will care. What is here is quite delightful and there is something here for everyone to enjoy. Well, unless you dislike fantasy stories.

The story opens with a mother, a teenage daughter, and twin teenage boys moving into a spooky old house that a relation owns. The mother has moved her family to this new city to get a job and there is obviously some fresh pain in the family. The house is not only old and spooky there is a lot of odd stuff like salt at the windowsills, can and cans of tomato sauce, and a seemingly endless supply of those little bear containers full of honey.

One of the twin boys if very aggressive and angry about being separated from his father and the other deals with his hurt passively. At some point you will come to realize that there mother and the father have split up, but the angry boy has not been told this and refuses to understand the evidence all around him.

Damage is done to the house that everyone blames on the angry twin with some evidence, but the major damage comes from the house's brownie / boggart, Thimbletack. Along the way the boy discovers a secret room, a key, and a sealed book with a note that warns him not to open or read the book. Of course he ignores the warning. All kinds of bad things ensue.

The chief obstacle is a very bad creature named Mulgarath. He has many servants who help him in his evil and cruel pursuits. However, his main goal in life is to get that book and use what is in it to dominate the world. The book was put together by Arthur Spiderwick to document his studies of the beings of the unseen world all around us.

Once the bad guys become aware of where the book is they will stop at nothing to get it. The battles are more intense than little children can take, but not horrible. The suspense is quite good and the revealing of all the components of the unseen world is quite wonderful.

I think it is a good family film, if tinged with sadness throughout.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI