The Spiderwick Chronicles

Plot

In 1928, Arthur Spiderwick writes a field guide about the many fairies he has encountered. After finishing the Book, he hides it away for fear of Mulgarath, a shapeshifting ogre 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 9-year-old twin 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 a brownie 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 a holed stone that allows Jared to see the normally invisible fairies by looking through it.

Thimbletack tells him about the protective mushroom circle surrounding the house. Jared witnesses Simon's abduction by goblins, led by Redcap. 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, a hobgoblin, 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 her fencing 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 mole troll sent by Redcap, they narrowly escape when it is struck and killed by an oncoming truck. Jared and Mallory meet the elderly Lucinda in the psychiatric hospital where she lives, surrounded by sprites. 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 the sylphs. 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.

Cast

Freddie Highmore as the Grace twins

Jared Grace: The black sheep of the family, and the most reluctant about moving from New York.

Simon Grace: The pacifistic animal lover.

Mary-Louise Parker as Helen Grace: the children's overprotective mother.

Nick Nolte as Mulgarath, an evil shapeshifting ogre, the leader of the goblins.

Sarah Bolger as Mallory Grace: Jared and Simon's firm and brave older sister.

Andrew McCarthy as Richard Grace: the children's neglectful father.

McCarthy also portrays Mulgarath's disguise of Richard.

Joan Plowright as Lucinda Spiderwick: the daughter of Arthur and Constance.

Jordy Benattar as Young Lucinda Spiderwick

David Strathairn as Arthur Spiderwick: the author of the guide and former owner of the mansion.

Lise Durocher-Viens as Constance Spiderwick: the wife of Arthur and mother of Lucinda

Tod Fennell as Helen Grace's co-worker

Mariah Inger as Nurse

Jeremy Lavalley as Tow Truck Driver

Voice cast

Seth Rogen as Hogsqueal: an unintelligent bird-eating hobgoblin who seeks revenge against Mulgarath for killing his family.

Production

Filming

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 many fencing scenes, she had five weeks of intense training, and three hours with the Canadian Olympic fencing coach nearly every day.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten 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." On Metacritic the film has an average score of 62 out of 100, based on 30 reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.

Critics called it "decent entertainment," "a work of both modest enchantment and enchanting modesty," and "modest and reasonably charming." It was criticized for its reliance on special effects; A. O. Scott of The 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," and another said that "the sense of wonder and magic is lost in the shuffle." 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," another said he "[had] no trouble grasping the task at hand," and a third remarked that, "the most special effect is probably Highmore".

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, since The Spiderwick Chronicles is a well-crafted family thriller that is truly scary and doesn't wimp out."

The film was nominated by the Visual Effects Society in the category of "Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture" but it lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, another film from Paramount Pictures. The film was also nominated for two Saturn Awards for Best Fantasy Film and Freddie Highmore for Best Performance by a Younger Actor.

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $19 million in 3,847 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 behind Jumper at the box office. With the opening day's gross on Thursday included, the film grossed an estimated $24.3 million on its opening weekend. It has grossed $162.8 million worldwide.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 24, 2008, in the United States. It was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 12, 2017, in the United States.

Television series

On November 12, 2021, Disney announced that a series would be filmed and released on Disney+. It was produced by 20th Television with partnership from Paramount 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. In October 2023, Roku announced that it had picked up the series and released it in its entirety on April 19, 2024, on The Roku Channel, consisting of eight episodes.

Video game

Vivendi Games, under their Sierra Entertainment label enlisted Stormfront Studios to develop and produce a video game adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles, following the general storyline of the books and film. It was released, shortly before the film's opening, on February 5, 2008, for Nintendo DS, Wii, PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2, and rated Everyone (E10+) by the ESRB.