The Spiderwick Chronicles

This movie begins with with Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) moving into a house with her three children: the twins Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore) and their older sister  Mallory (Sarah Bolger). It's an old, creepy house that she inherited from her Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick (Joan Plowright), who is now in a retirement home (or nut farm I am not completely sure which one). Jared, the troublemaker, is apparently up to his usual tricks, and at one point sticks a hole in the wall of the kitchen. Behind the wall is a dumbwaiter that leads to a secret room in the attic.

In the attic Jared finds a book with a warning telling anyone who finds it not to read it. So he reads it. It turns out to be a field journal of  Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) who somehow was able to pierce the veil between this world and the magical world. Jarod meets Timbletack (Martin Short) a Brownie that was a friend to Arthur and who's main duty is to protect the book. He is very angry that Jared opened it. Somehow now the main villain if the tale, Mulgarath will know where the book is and try to get it. Because, explains Timbletack there are secrets in that book to every magical species there is and if Mulgarath gets his claws on it, he can destroy the world.

So Mulgarath's goblin minions kidnap Simon (thinking he is Jared) and demand to know where the book it, but Simon being Simon and not Jared has no idea what is going on. Jared goes to rescue him and on the way ends up saving Hogsqueal (Seth Rogen) a hobgoblin. Hogsqueal starts coming up with a plan to rescue Simon but gets distracted by a bird and leaves Jared on his own. Mulgarath lets Simon go, telling him to bring back the book for him, but Jared hears Mulgarath tell the goblins to kill them all once they get the book back. The two get away and race back home where Mallory is practicing her fencing. The tree are attacked but once they are in the protective circle that Arthur placed around the house they are safe.  Mallory and Jared go off through a secret tunnel to find Lucinda while Simon cooks up tomato sauce, which kills goblins. Lucinda tells them to find her father who was taken by some creatures to keep his knowledge safe. They find him with the help of a griffon, but he is no help. He had been out of actual time for so long he can no longer leave the glade he is being kept in or he will die, so they go back home.

Their mom meets up with them and they tell her what is happening. Of course she doesn't believe them until the goblins find a way through the protective circle and attack. Together they defend their home and defeat Mulgarath and they all live happily ever after.

To be honest, I am getting slightly annoyed with Highmore. He is like the male version of Dakota Fanning, but with more acting ability. It seems every time I watch a movie with a young boy it's him. Well, at least he's a good actor.

Surprisingly I actually liked the ending of this film. Usually movies like this I find that the ending is the worst part; it's always some cliché end with something really unrealistic happening. With this movie it was an unconventional ending, non violent but final. There's no way that Mulgarath is coming back. Okay so I haven't read the books, so I don't actually know if he does come back or not, but he is definitely dead at the end of this movie.

I have no complaints about this film; it just wasn't very interesting or exciting, just mediocre.  The acting and special effects were top notch; the story not  so much. Oh well.

Grade: 6/10