So my SO and I are probably at least 40 years older than the demographic for this film, but having read a review that compared this to the Harry Potter films, we thought we would see how it compared.
On its own, it isn’t a horrible film. The story keeps your interest (having never read the books) and there are a few nice special effects.
However, Mary-Louise Parker re-creates the exact same role and facial tics as she does as the mother in the show Weeds, and the kids are a bit two dimensional for the roles - they flip from jaded urban big city to rural fantasy believers in a matter of seconds. That is probably due to the rushed feeling of the entire film. Everything just seems to happen instantaneously - no real build up or suspense; it all just goes BAM! and off they go.
I suppose younger kids (the real demographic here) will find it more fun, but if any adults are looking for a good fantasy series with great plot, wait for the next Harry Potter or the upcoming Hobbit. The Spiderwick Chronicles is nowhere near the level of excellence of those other franchises.
BTW, they showed the preview for Indiana Jones prior to the film. Even the trailer is making fun of the fact that the hero is, uh, getting up in age. Looks like this film might be headed into the high camp, wink, wink, category.
Just saw this today. All in all it was an entertaining movie. I’ve never read the books either but after the movie I went to the bookstore to research the story a bit more. It looks like there are five books in the series so far and the movie is compromised of those books. That’s way it seems so rushed, so much source material in too little a time.
Mary Louise Parker is getting shafted in movies left and right. She had a nothing role as Jesse James’s wife in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. She wasn’t given anything to do except look horrified when the title sequence happened. (brilliant movie otherwise, though)
I haven’t seen Weeds or this movie, but damn, give this woman something to do on the big screen! She was great in movies like Boys On The Side. I need to see Romance and Cigarettes, to see how she’s used there.
Yeah, she was wasted in this. I loved her as the slightly-insane “other woman” in Grand Canyon. I don’t watch Weeds so I hope that she isn’t this one-dimensional all the time… she used to be a good actress.
We liked it- me, hubby and boys aged 8 & 6. Freddie Highmore continues to please, although this seemed plagiaristically close to Arthur and the Invisibles- even the sketches in the book are eerily similar.
SWMBO and I went to see it and liked it a lot. We were going crazy trying to figure out who Mom was and finally it clicked: we were remembering her from her role as Amy Gardner in The West Wing.
I thought it was a overall a pretty solid kids film, but felt the ending was a bit anti-climactic- surely they could have come up with a more dazzling way to solve the problem, considering the set up was so elaborate.
I also can’t figure out why these type films (and books) always have to have some sort of family conflict in them- why can’t weird things ever happen to a happy loving family? And that a pretty scary movie like this is only PG, whereas showing a tit or saying fuck gets you an R, is odd. And was there really any need in having the kid play two roles? Seemed unncessary, and a bit obvious in the scenes where they were talking to each other but not quite looking exactly at each other, but I really enjoyed it other than these few nitpicks. Good to see the young girl from In America again, and she did a great job hiding her accent.
I think its easier to have one decent child actor play twins than try and find a pair of identical twins who can act. Would you have rather had Dylan and Cole Sprouse?
Broken families are a tradition of children’s literature - which is littered with orphans - we are lucky that modern children’s literature tends to leave us with at least one present parent.
I thought the film was charming and an improvement over the Harry Potter movies - which move far too fast and yet are far too long and incomplete. I always vaguely regret a Harry Potter movie - its like a too large slice of chocolate cake someone has covered in hot fudge and given you three minutes to eat.
I enjoyed it. I really don’t have a lot more to say about it, but I have to admit I was more than a little shocked to see John Sayles was one of the writers.
I assume they are twins in the book, but for the film it was unncessary- its not like there was any plot point that required them to look alike, or even be the same age, but again, a very minor nitpick on my part. And I can’t believe this came in third to Jumper and Step Up 2…
I took the family to see it today. We all enjoyed it, I read the first two books and the movie didn’t sweat the details of these very short books at all.
I enjoyed it, my son (age 7) said “It was a wonderful movie, even better than the Golden Compass”. He is now planning to read the books.
My daughter and wife liked the movie. The griffon was very popular with the kids and they loved the Hobgoblin eating the Ogre in his bird form.
Saw it tonight with my kids. My son has read all the books and he said that even though the movie changed a bunch of stuff, including cramming all the books into one two hour movie, he enjoyed it a lot. I thought it was a good kids movie also, and not bad for adults who have to sit through it with their kids.