Synopsis: None of the Grace children are happy to have to move with their mother to her crazy great-aunt’s decaying home, but while Mallory and Simon accept the move, Simon’s twin brother Jared is full of rage at their mother. But Spiderwick House holds more than just mildew and mice. A forbidden book, a family secret, a helpful spirit and a dreadful ogre all do much to put Jared’s other problems into perspective, but if he can not persuade anyone to believe him, then the truths he has learned may destroy his family in spite of him.

Review: Mark Walters’ film version of Holly Black and Tony di Terlizzi’s Spiderwick Chronicles adapts all five short novels and blends them into a single film, removing a number of secondary encounters with phooka and elves to focus on the arc plot revolving around the Field Guide and Mulgarath’s plans for world domination. What remains has plenty of meat to it, without being overlong or too complex.

That the CGI faeries in the film are stupendous creations – with Byron the griffin being particularly beautiful – almost goes without saying, such is the state of the art. By adhering closely to the aesthetic created by di Terlizzi’s original artwork for the books, the film also establishes itself clearly within the magical world of Spiderwick, rather than just another generic modern fantasy setting. Perhaps more impressively, Sarah Bolger and Freddie Highmore excel in their roles as Mallory Grace and her twin brothers, with Highmore in particular defying his years to portray the twins as very different people. The young leads combine fine acting with the ability to work convincingly with co-stars who are mostly imaginary (including, of course, one half of Highmore in many scenes) with solid American accents.

Although some of the darkest elements of the source material – the venomous dragons, Mulgarath’s castle, the abductions of Mallory and Mrs Grace, and above all the massacre of the dwarves – have been omitted from the film, there remains plenty for younger viewers to blanche at. The creatures of darkness – the ogre, troll and goblins – are also genuinely horrible, rather than scaly-but-kind-of-cute, with the shape-shifting Mulgarath likely to haunt the dreams of many a sensitive viewer, in the form of a seedy, yellow-eyed Nick Nolte if not in his giant tree-beast shape. For older fantasy fans looking for something with a little more bite to get their teeth into – if you’ll pardon me scrambling my metaphors – this film is a must see.

2008-03-16