| The Spiderwick Chronicles | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mark Waters |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | The Spiderwick Chronicles byTony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Caleb Deschanel |
| Edited by | Michael Kahn |
| Music by | James Horner |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures (underNickelodeon Movies) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $90-92.5 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $162.8 million[2] |
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008 Americanfantasy film directed byMark Waters and written byKarey Kirkpatrick,David Berenbaum, andJohn Sayles, based onthe book series byTony DiTerlizzi andHolly Black. It starsFreddie Highmore,Mary-Louise Parker andSarah Bolger, withNick Nolte,Seth Rogen, andMartin Short in voice roles. The film, set in the Spiderwick Estate inNew England, follows three children who discover a field guide tofairies while encountering various magical creatures such as goblins, ogres, brownies, boggarts, hobgoblins, trolls and many others.
The Spiderwick Chronicles was released on February 14, 2008, byParamount Pictures and grossed $163 million against its $90–92.5 million budget. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.
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In 1928, Arthur Spiderwick writes afield guide about the manyfairies he has encountered. After finishing the Book, he hides it away for fear of Mulgarath, ashapeshiftingogre who plans to use the Book's secrets for evil.
Eighty years later, recently divorced Helen Grace inherits and moves into the abandoned Spiderwick estate with her children, 13-year-old daughter Mallory and 12-year-oldtwin sons Jared and Simon. Jared is angry about the move and would rather live with his father in New York. After uncovering a hidden dumbwaiter, Jared discovers Arthur's study where he finds the Field Guide. When Jared explains his discovery of the Book and the existence of magical creatures, his family does not believe him. The next morning, Jared meets abrownie named Thimbletack, who is initially angry with Jared for having opened the book that he needed to protect from Mulgarath. Jared placates him with crackers and honey, and Thimbletack gives Jared aholed stone that allows Jared to see the normally invisible fairies by looking through it.
Thimbletack tells him about the protectivemushroom circle surrounding the house. Jared witnesses Simon's abduction bygoblins, led byRedcap. Simon is taken to the goblins' campsite where he is confronted by Mulgarath, disguised as an old man. Jared sneaks into the campsite where he meets Hogsqueal, ahobgoblin, who gives Jared the ability to see faeries without the stone by spitting in his eyes so he can help him get revenge on Mulgarath for killing his family. Mulgarath releases Simon so he can fetch the book for him. Jared finds Simon and both fight over the book before they are chased by the goblins. The twins flee back to the house, and Mallory fights them off with herfencing sabre.
The children decide to visit Arthur's daughter, their great-aunt Lucinda Spiderwick, for advice. While Simon distracts the goblins, Mallory and Jared escape through an underground tunnel. Chased by a moletroll sent by Redcap, they narrowly escape when it is struck and killed by an oncoming truck. Jared and Mallory meet the elderly Lucinda in thepsychiatric hospital where she lives, surrounded bysprites. She tells the children that they need to find her father and have him destroy the book and that, for eighty years, Arthur has been held captive by thesylphs. At that moment, Redcap and his goblins attack them through the window and manage to tear off several pages from the book before being driven off. Among the stolen pages, Mulgarath is pleased to find information on how to break the protective circle and plans to create a potion in order to do so during the night of a full moon.
While Helen is driving home, she and Jared argue over her disbelief; Jared angrily tells Helen that he hates her and does not want to live with her anymore. Later, Hogsqueal, having overheard Mulgarath's plan, informs the children. When Jared tries and fails to contact his father again, Mallory tells him the truth: he's dating another woman and has moved in with her. Jared, Simon, and Mallory use the book to summon agriffin, which takes them to the sylphs' realm. There, they meet Arthur, who has not aged and is initially unaware of the time he has spent there. Jared asks him to destroy the book only to find out that Thimbletack had switched the pages and kept the real Book. Arthur is relieved until Jared tells him that Mulgarath knows how to break the protective circle. Arthur informs Jared that the sylphs will not allow them to leave as they, like him, know too much about the fairies and the fairies do not want them to reveal their existence to the world. Arthur helps them escape by distracting the sylphs with the fake book.
At home, the children finally convince Helen of the truth. Meanwhile, the goblins finish spreading their potion, which successfully breaks the circle as the full moon rises. The family defend themselves with kitchen knives and tomato sauce/salt bombs (ingredients deadly to goblins) and manage to kill the goblins in an explosion of tomato sauce. Suddenly, the children's father, Richard, appears; however, Jared, suspicious about his father's words and behavior, stabs him, revealing him to be Mulgarath in disguise. Mulgarath pursues Jared and the Book throughout the house before cornering him on the roof. Jared tosses the Book and Mulgarath transforms into a raven to catch it, but he is suddenly snatched and eaten by Hogsqueal. Afterwards, Jared and his mother reconcile. Jared refuses to live with his father again and decides to only live with his mother instead.
Several weeks later, the family brings Lucinda to visit the house. The sylphs arrive with Arthur, allowing him to briefly visit now that the Book is safe. However, Arthur cannot stay long as he will turn to dust if he remains. Lucinda asks to go with him and is transformed back into a child. The Grace family watch as the sylphs spirit Arthur and Lucinda away, and they are now free to continue and live happily in their new home.
Voice cast
In an interview,Sarah Bolger said that filming took 4–5 months. She said that she "was [in front of] the blue screen like 24 hours a day", and for the most part, she was "kicking and slicing and chopping things that were nowhere near". Since Bolger had manyfencing scenes, she had five weeks of intense training, and three hours with the Canadian Olympic fencing coach nearly every day.[5]
OnRotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 6.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Spiderwick Chronicles is an entertaining children's adventure, with heart and imagination to spare."[6] OnMetacritic the film has an average score of 62 out of 100, based on 30 reviews.[7] Audiences surveyed byCinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.[8][9]
Critics called it "decent entertainment,"[10] "a work of both modest enchantment and enchanting modesty,"[11] and "modest and reasonably charming."[12] It was criticized for its reliance on special effects;A. O. Scott ofThe New York Times said that the movie "feels more like a sloppy, secondhand pander" and called it "frantic with incident and hectic with computer-generated effects,"[13] and another said that "the sense of wonder and magic is lost in the shuffle."[14] Despite some negative reviews for the film overall, Highmore was generally praised for his dual role as the twins Simon and Jared. One critic said that he "skillfully portrays two distinctive personas,"[15] another said he "[had] no trouble grasping the task at hand,"[16] and a third remarked that, "the most special effect is probably Highmore".[17]
Roger Ebert gave it three and half stars on four and said: "The Spiderwick Chronicles is a terrific entertainment for the whole family, except those below a certain age, who are likely to be scared out of their wits. What is that age? I dunno; they're your kids. But I do know the PG classification is insane, especially considering what happens right after a father says he loves his son. This is a PG-13 movie, for sure. But what will cause nightmares for younger kids will delight older ones, sinceThe Spiderwick Chronicles is a well-crafted family thriller that is truly scary and doesn't wimp out."[18]
The film was nominated by theVisual Effects Society in the category of "Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture" but it lost toThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, another film fromParamount Pictures.[19] The film was also nominated for twoSaturn Awards forBest Fantasy Film andFreddie Highmore forBest Performance by a Younger Actor.[20]
In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $19 million in 3,847 theaters in theUnited States andCanada, ranking #2 behindJumper at the box office.[2] With the opening day's gross on Thursday included, the film grossed an estimated $24.3 million on its opening weekend.[21] It has grossed $162.8 million worldwide.[22]
The film was released onDVD andBlu-ray on June 24, 2008, in the United States.[23][3] It was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 12, 2017, in the United States.
On November 12, 2021,Disney announced that a series would be filmed and released onDisney+. It was produced by20th Television with partnership fromParamount Television Studios. The series is not co-produced by Nickelodeon due to it being produced by 20th Television and Paramount only. It is also not related to the film. In August 2023, it was announced that the already completed series would no longer be airing on Disney+ due to cost cutting reasons, but it would be shopped to other studios.[24] In October 2023, Roku announced that it had picked up the series and released it in its entirety on April 19, 2024, onThe Roku Channel, consisting of eight episodes.[25]
Vivendi Games, under theirSierra Entertainment label enlistedStormfront Studios to develop and produce avideo game adaptation ofThe Spiderwick Chronicles, following the general storyline of the books and film.[26] It was released, shortly before the film's opening, on February 5, 2008, forNintendo DS,Wii,PC,Xbox 360, andPlayStation 2, and rated Everyone (E10+) by theESRB.
Approved Running time 95m 41s
Both also received sweet A- CinemaScore grades, portending leggy runs at the box office…for at least another week.
Freddie Highmore does a fine job in a dual role as identical twins. The talented actor skillfully portrays two distinctive personas.
Happily, Highmore has no trouble grasping the task at hand.
The most special effect is probably Highmore, who gets to sharpen up his American accent and who makes each twin, bookish Simon and bad-boy Jared, a functioning individual.
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