MPAA Rating: PG for scary creature action and violence, peril, and some thematic elements.
Recommend for ages 7 and up.
Run Time: 97 minutes
Head's Up — Kids who scare easily probably won't go for this one.
Kid Reaction: "I was jumping sometimes for some parts." — 7-year-old boy.
"Awesome. It was scary, but not real scary. There were some funny parts. It had mixed emotions." — 12-year-old girl.
Good If You Liked: The "Harry Potter" movies, "The Chronicles of Narnia"
Creature Features: Many grotesque goblins, including their monstrous leader, who looks like "King Kong" with a tree growing out of his back (and has the voice of Nick Nolte).
Risqué Business: The kids are too busy running for their lives to think about birds and bees.
Scares and Suspense: Aside from the creatures, a climactic siege on the family's house plays like a kiddie version of a zombie flick.
Other Possible Concerns: The movie frankly deals with the parents' divorce, especially its emotional effect on Jared. There also is mild language.
Rewatch Value: Fantasy fans who do not scare easily will want to revisit the intricate details of this magical world.
Related features:
I know a 10-year-old boy who took one look at ominous poster for "The Spiderwick Chronicles" and declared to his mom, "I'm not going to that."
And no amount of popcorn promises could persuade my 5-year-old daughter to accompany me.
Yet children with multiple "Harry Potter" viewings under their belts likely will find a delightful sense of danger awaiting them in "The Spiderwick Chronicles," which does at times push the limits of its PG rating.
Based on a series of novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, the movie centers on "a field guide to the fantastical world around you," which the Grace children – Mallory and her twin brothers Simon and Jared – discover in the dilapidated home they move into after their parents' divorce.
By reading the book, the kids discover the fairies, goblins, and trolls that are otherwise invisible all around us.
As a movie, the special effects do their job and the acting is accomplished (especially by Freddie Highmore, doing double duty as the twins.) But the film's most endearing quality is the way it understands a child's imagination.
Kids are always having adventures involving things adults can't see. They can turn a feather into a fairy's wing or a rock into a precious gem. Spiderwick inflates that sort of creativity to often fantastic, occasionally fearsome proportions.
Kids Will Love: Little giggles accompanied each appearance of Thimbletack, a tiny creature charged with guarding the field guide and given to fits of temper (he's voiced by Martin Short).
Parents Will Love: Parents will appreciate Mary-Louise Parker as the kids' sardonic, beleaguered mom and Seth Rogen ("Knocked Up") as the voice of a comic ally named Hogsqueal.
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