00s Movie Review - The Spiderwick Chronicles

Director: Mark Waters
Genre: Adventure/ Fantasy/ Family/ Drama/ Action
Runtime: 96 minutes
Year: 2008
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Nick Nolte, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, Sarah Bolger, Andrew McCarthy, Ron Perlman

Description: Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brothers Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.

Review: There are countless magical beings living in our world, of which we know nothing because we cannot see them. We humans only see them, if they want us to. Arthur Spiderwick discovered that and started writing a book about all the secrets these creatures. He indexes his findings in a scientific way, until he found out that with all this knowledge, evil forces could wipe out all other fantastic creatures and then be powerful enough to take on humans. He hid the book in his house and put a protective magic circle around it so that the evil creatures could not reach it.

Of course, such a secret does not stay hidden forever. Eighty years later, distant reltives of Arthur Spiderwick movie into his old house. Helen and her three children Mallory, Jared and Simon have decided to move there after the divorce. Jared is the one that finds the book and he releases the evil creatures.

The story of “The Spiderwick Chronicles” might not be the most original family fantasy films, but it sure as hell is one hell of a great time. The idea of children suddenly discovering a fantastical world full of magic has been done so many times, but you can do it in so many ways. “The Spiderwick Chronicles” has enough concept of its own to stand out.

The excellent acting of young Freddie Highmore in a dual role contributes to that. The two kids he plays are clearly two different boys with their own body language and personalities. Great voice performances also by Seth Rogen, Martin Short and Nick Nolte.

“The Spiderwick Chronicles” is not an earth-shattering or innovative film, but it is an entertaining family film with suspense, humor and fun design (some parts might be a little too scary for the littlest viewers).The film has a nice pace and fortunately follows its own internal logic.  

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Netflix Friday - Volume 111

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: Interceptor (2022)
One Army Captain (Elsa Pataky) must use her years of tactical training and military expertise when a simultaneous coordinated attach threatens the remote missile interceptor station she is in command of.
 

Drama: Moneyball (2011)
Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s (Brad Pitt) successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a lean budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.
 

Comedy: Long Shot (2019)
Journalist Fled Flarsky (Seth Rogen) reunites with his childhood crush, Charlotte Fields (Charlize Theron), now one of the most influential women in the world. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte hires Fred as her speechwriter and sparks fly.
 

Animation: A Whisker Away (2020)
Miyo Sasaki is in love with her classmate Kento Hinode and tries repeatedly to get Kento’s attention by transforming into a cat, but at some point, the boundary between herself and the cat becomes ambiguous.
 

Romance: What Happens in Vegas (2008)
A man (Ashton Kutcher) and a woman (Cameron Diaz) are compelled, for legal reasons, to live life as a couple for a limited period of time. At stake is a large amount of money.
 

Horror: The Prodigy (2019)
A mother (Taylor Schilling) concerned about her young son’s disturbing behavior thinks something supernatural may be affecting him.
 

Science Fiction: The Core (2013)
The only way to save Earth from catastrophe is to drill down to the core and set it spinning again.

Crime: Spiderhead (2022)
In the near future, convicts are offered the chance to volunteer as medical subjects to shorten their sentence. One such subject for a new drug capable of generating feelings of love beings questioning the reality of his emotions.
 

Thriller: Fear (1996)
When Nicole (Reese Witherspoon) met David (Mark Wahlberg); handsome, charming, affectionate, he was everything. It seemed perfect, but soon she sees that David has a darker side. And his adoration turns to obsession, their dream into a nightmare, and her love into fear.
 

Documentary: Misha and the Wolves (2022)
“Misha and the Wolves” is the dramatic tale of a woman whose holocaust memoir took the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher, who turned detective, revealed an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.
 

Family: The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of fairies and other creatures.

Netflix Friday - Volume 7

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.

Action: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler’s Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.

Drama: Legends of the Fall (1994)
In the early 1900s, three brothers and their father living in the remote wilderness of Montana are affected by betrayal, history, love, nature and war.

Comedy: Yes Man (2008)
Carl (Jim Carrey) challenges himself to say “yes” to everything.

Animation: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest.

Romance: Roxanne (1987)
The large-nosed C.D. Bales (Steve Martin) is in love with the beautiful Roxanne (Daryl Hannah)l she falls for his personality but another man’s looks.

Horror: Prooi (Prey) (2016)
A zoo veterinarian gets caught up in a grisly adventure as she finds herself leading the city-wide hunt for a monstrous lion terrorizing Amsterdam.

Science Fiction: The Matrix (1999)
A computer hacker (Keanu Reeves) learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.

Crime: Papillon (2017)
Wrongfully convicted for murder, Henri Charriere (Charlie Hunnam) forms an unlikely relationship with fellow inmate and quirky counterfeiter Louis Dega (Rami Malek), in an attempt to escape from the notorious penal colony on Devil’s island.

Thriller: The Next Three Days (2010)
A married couple’s life (Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks) is turned upside down when the wife is accused of a murder.

Documentary: Holland: Natuur in de Delta (2015)
Multiple animals are followed during their life in the by humans created delta.

Family: The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother (Mary-Louise Parker), twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace (Freddie Highmore), along with their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger), find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.