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DVD : The Spiderwick Chronicles [2008] .
Rating: 
- I don't know the books, but the movie is a good film
A good film for the family, teens and "young souls". A good plot (with some "serious" themes, i.e. the difficult "familiar" relactions) good special effects (gremlins-like bad guys and some sprites and so on) a "good" villain (Nick Nolte) and a "reborn" Martin Short. In the mass of movies for "children" is a good product, if you like this type of movies.
Rating: - The Spiderwick Chronicles
'The Spiderwick Chronicles' is a pretty decent family fantasy adventure film that was actually a lot better than I expected it to be. It follows a family who move to the country and find a book that shows how to find various supernatural and fantasy creatures. They have to stop the book falling into the wrong hands and here the adventure begins. The child actors are quite good and there's none of that precocious cutsey-ness that can drive you mad in other films. The effects are great and the storyline is pretty good as well. This film is quite short at just under 90 minutes and I didn't check my watch once as I became completely captivated by the story. If you like fantasy films then this should be right up your street and makes for a great afternoons viewing when you want a bit of fun and adventure. A solid four star film and well worth a try.
Rating:
- Very Disappointing
Be warned this film is hardly anything like the Spiderwick Chronicles books.My son and I have read all the Spiderwick Chronicles and we found this screen adaptation very disappointing. Where's the dwarves, elves, dragons , the palace of trash and the incident at the school where Jared first meets Mulgarath ? It seems to me that they tried to make the film as cheap as possible using mostly cgi, hence no dwarves and elves and tried to save money by using ,mainly one set (the house and the estate it's on). We also found the relationships of the characters had been changed. Why? There was nothing wrong with the supportive relationship between Jared, Simon and Mallory that they have in the books which you only see later on in the film.
The film could easily have been another half an hour and without completely re-writing the storyline of the books.
Rating: - Great entertainment
Had some time to kill and went to see this film. Given the overhype of the Narnia films and several other book adaptations I was surprised and delighted to find out it was great entertainment and well worth the ticket price.
Freddie Highmore does a superb job playing identical twins Jared and Simon, identical by looks but not by attitude and mannerisms, who have moved to a rural house once owned by their great uncle. Jared, who is always getting into trouble, finds a large and mysterious book about the magical realm all around the house written by his great uncle many years before.
The plot may be a little scary for younger children but it's fast paced and very watchable.
Rating: - "I CANNOT STAY FOR ALL MY YEARS WILL COME AT ONCE AND I WILL WITHER AWAY"
HAHAHAHAHAHA! I took my 5yr old and my 3yr old to watch this at the I max cinema in Bradford. well it wasn't what i expected but very enjoyable, the little boy who stars in it was very good at playing twins, he has come along way sinse that tripe: "arthur and the invisibles" in which i felt his acting as well as the rushed plot and skipping of scene to scene didn't do the film any justice, if that could be done at all.
However in this film i felt he more than made up for it and this was an enjoyable, obviously predictable as are most family fims, and exciting film to watch.
However i can't end the review, (yes it's not an in-depth review- more of an opinion) without mention of that one liner at the end where the girls farther who has been literally away with the fairies comes back to see her, she's now an old women herself of course, and wants him to stay to which he preplies: "I cannot, (que the cheese) for if i do, all my years will come at once and i will wither away" at this point i almost fell off my chair in laughter as did the other adult i was with, maybe we are just really childish but i just thought it was so corny and hilarious! it kinda spoilt the film but at lease it made us laugh.
Needless to say it was totally uneccessary for him to say that, even the kids knew the answer to that, so why would the old women, (his daughter) not know that? then in the end he decides to take her back with him to the land of the fairies where they will dwell for all eternity in a garden of flowers with no food or stimulation, forbidden to leave by the fairies. right.sounds like heaven.... oh and she turns into a kid again, how frustrating would that be?
ah well, all in all i give it 4 stars, worth getting for the kids, good special effects, just don't take it too seriously, a much better film to get by the same directors, (i think) would be Bridge to terabithia, now that is well worth watching if you like these kinds of films, it has it's flaws but i would say is better than this one.
- I don't know the books, but the movie is a good filmA good film for the family, teens and "young souls". A good plot (with some "serious" themes, i.e. the difficult "familiar" relactions) good special effects (gremlins-like bad guys and some sprites and so on) a "good" villain (Nick Nolte) and a "reborn" Martin Short. In the mass of movies for "children" is a good product, if you like this type of movies.
Rating:
- The Spiderwick Chronicles'The Spiderwick Chronicles' is a pretty decent family fantasy adventure film that was actually a lot better than I expected it to be. It follows a family who move to the country and find a book that shows how to find various supernatural and fantasy creatures. They have to stop the book falling into the wrong hands and here the adventure begins. The child actors are quite good and there's none of that precocious cutsey-ness that can drive you mad in other films. The effects are great and the storyline is pretty good as well. This film is quite short at just under 90 minutes and I didn't check my watch once as I became completely captivated by the story. If you like fantasy films then this should be right up your street and makes for a great afternoons viewing when you want a bit of fun and adventure. A solid four star film and well worth a try.
Rating:
- Very DisappointingBe warned this film is hardly anything like the Spiderwick Chronicles books.My son and I have read all the Spiderwick Chronicles and we found this screen adaptation very disappointing. Where's the dwarves, elves, dragons , the palace of trash and the incident at the school where Jared first meets Mulgarath ? It seems to me that they tried to make the film as cheap as possible using mostly cgi, hence no dwarves and elves and tried to save money by using ,mainly one set (the house and the estate it's on). We also found the relationships of the characters had been changed. Why? There was nothing wrong with the supportive relationship between Jared, Simon and Mallory that they have in the books which you only see later on in the film.
The film could easily have been another half an hour and without completely re-writing the storyline of the books.
Rating:
- Great entertainmentHad some time to kill and went to see this film. Given the overhype of the Narnia films and several other book adaptations I was surprised and delighted to find out it was great entertainment and well worth the ticket price.
Freddie Highmore does a superb job playing identical twins Jared and Simon, identical by looks but not by attitude and mannerisms, who have moved to a rural house once owned by their great uncle. Jared, who is always getting into trouble, finds a large and mysterious book about the magical realm all around the house written by his great uncle many years before.
The plot may be a little scary for younger children but it's fast paced and very watchable.
Rating:
- "I CANNOT STAY FOR ALL MY YEARS WILL COME AT ONCE AND I WILL WITHER AWAY"HAHAHAHAHAHA! I took my 5yr old and my 3yr old to watch this at the I max cinema in Bradford. well it wasn't what i expected but very enjoyable, the little boy who stars in it was very good at playing twins, he has come along way sinse that tripe: "arthur and the invisibles" in which i felt his acting as well as the rushed plot and skipping of scene to scene didn't do the film any justice, if that could be done at all.
However in this film i felt he more than made up for it and this was an enjoyable, obviously predictable as are most family fims, and exciting film to watch.
However i can't end the review, (yes it's not an in-depth review- more of an opinion) without mention of that one liner at the end where the girls farther who has been literally away with the fairies comes back to see her, she's now an old women herself of course, and wants him to stay to which he preplies: "I cannot, (que the cheese) for if i do, all my years will come at once and i will wither away" at this point i almost fell off my chair in laughter as did the other adult i was with, maybe we are just really childish but i just thought it was so corny and hilarious! it kinda spoilt the film but at lease it made us laugh.
Needless to say it was totally uneccessary for him to say that, even the kids knew the answer to that, so why would the old women, (his daughter) not know that? then in the end he decides to take her back with him to the land of the fairies where they will dwell for all eternity in a garden of flowers with no food or stimulation, forbidden to leave by the fairies. right.sounds like heaven.... oh and she turns into a kid again, how frustrating would that be?
ah well, all in all i give it 4 stars, worth getting for the kids, good special effects, just don't take it too seriously, a much better film to get by the same directors, (i think) would be Bridge to terabithia, now that is well worth watching if you like these kinds of films, it has it's flaws but i would say is better than this one.
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