True

Jenny Lauck — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 12:59:05 -0500

My attention did not wander on this - and the effects were gorgeous.

My daughter LOVED it

alyssaroyse — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:37:31 -0500

My bookworm daughter has read all the books and memorized the Field Guide (which even I love!), and she LOVED the movie. Any time such a movie comes up, we do make her read the books first, and she has come away with a really salient understanding that books and movies are 2 very different things. We actually discuss things like interpretation and adaption as art forms of their own, and I think it helps her understand how intensely personal and relative "art" is....

It's all about expectation. If you expect a movie to match what was in your head about a book, you will be disappointed 100% of the time. If you look at it as a chance to see how someone else interpreted it, it can be a whole new and wonderful experience.

That said, I almost NEVER see movies of books that I loved. Why? Because I know they did it wrong. :)
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

we saw it a while back and while the kids

Crunchy Carpets — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 11:26:52 -0500

enjoyed it ..it was a bit too intense for them...they are young and despite watching all sorts of scary shows...the goblins were frightening for them...but my boy is STILL going on about it.

I thought it was fine .....the pacing was good and it held the adults attention as much as the kids without taking away the 'magic' for the younger set.

The bad dad thing was a bit much.

dh said he is sick of childrens books and movies still following this sort of pattern.

Look for me at http://crunchycarpets.com or check out the ladies at www.wetcoastwomen.com

The Spiderwick Chronicles - CGI Mayhem for the PG Crowd

Jenny Lauck — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:03:14 -0500

I read The Spiderwick Chronicles to my eight-year-old daughter last fall. We both enjoyed the series, and poured over the illustrations in the companion book, Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around YouSince we both enjoyed the books so much, we were looking forward to seeing the film version. With the amazing CGI that many fantasy films employ these days, we both looked forward to seeing some of our favorite creatures brought to life on the big screen.

BlogHer Contributing Editor Sassymonkey gives the books two thumbs up:

The Spiderwick Chronicles follows the adventures of three siblings, Jared, Simon and Mallory, who move into their great aunt’s house after their father leaves them. They discover a book that gets them into trouble as only the best books can do. It tells them all about the world of the fey and the usual hijinks ensue.

It’s a fun story. And I think it would be great as a read aloud selection. It’s probably a bit too dark for the wee littles but Jared and Simon are 9 and I think it would be great for that age group.
A fun story with sprites, elves, trolls, goblins and ogres. Great illustrations. Two thumbs up.

but points out a public service announcment from fellow book-blogger Cat at Beyond Books, who shoots straight from the hip:

DO NOT GO SEE THE MOVIE even if you haven’t read the books.

Do me a favour and just go read the books (or book, if you happen to get the collection like I did).

The movie is heartbreakingly awful and has pretty much NOTHING to do with the actual story that is created by the BOOK. Seriously.

Cat ended up nausous from disappointment. Or maybe from too much popcorn. But still.

I felt sick at the end of this film - ok so I ate way too much popcorn that I’m not supposed to eat in the first place, but still, the story was so altered and the acting was so awful that I was heartbroken and angry all at once. I have no idea why they changed a good thing like they did. I understand some things would have to be cut for length, but to change the entire PLOT??

...I can’t believe I let Shawn spend his money on this and that we just wasted our entire evening. If you’ll excuse me I think I need to go throw up.

With that glowing praise burned into my retinas, I attempted to reneg on my promised movie date with my daughter. Hey, I know you're not so much into big sweeping epics rated above your age level, but let's go see 10,000 BC! It has mammoths and people with spears and stuff!

My daughter insisted that we see The Spiderwick Chronicles. Le sigh.

And you know, it wasn't faithful to the almost Gothic flavor of the books, but I felt that the film was just the right combination of scary while remaining accessible to younger fans.

Amey enjoyed the film, although she missed the breadth from the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black:

With 5 small-sized books (each around 100 pages in length), I had thought that there wouldn’t be any major differences. I mean, I didn’t really expect the Spiderwick estate to be as dilapidated as the books made it to be. But I wasn’t ready for some changes, like in Byron’s story. Even Thimbletack is much more prosaic than his rhyming self in the books, while some creatures are completely missing. This is perhaps because the movie has a span of a day or two against several weeks it takes for the story to unfold in the books. Also, many important changes seem to be made to make the movie more kid-friendly, though Mulgarath is more than enough to scare them good.

All in all, it is a fairly good, kid-friendly fantasy movie, with a feel-good ending. If you are a fantasy fan, I would recommend it.

Not the most glowing praise - and pretty much how I felt about the film.

Nayana Anthony thinks the story's cute enough, but it falls short of truly great children's movies or literature.

The creatures are kind of cool. The animation is great. Of course, the voices of Seth Rogen, Martin Short, and Nick Nolte are just money in the bank. I gotta say it, though: that Freddie Highmore kid pisses me off. He plays both of the boys (they're twins), and he does this annoying thing during all his reaction shots: he just sits there with his mouth hanging open. ACTING, ladies and gentlemen!

OK, so there's not really much of anything wrong with the movie... I guess if you've got kids, bring 'em. But do them a favor... don't let this be the only kind of entertainment (movie or literature) that you expose them to. Take your children to The Spiderwick Chronicles once, but let C. S. Lewis be their regular bedtime story.

Cynthia Fuchs at PopMatters digs into the movie's message about fathers:

Here’s the thing about The Spiderwick Chronicles. No matter how admirable the girl with expertise in fencing or spunky the twins played by Freddy Highmore, the movie is about bad dads. That one of them is punished cruelly on screen and in front of his children suggests that this might not be the least traumatizing movie experience for kids seeking diversion on Valentine’s Day Weekend.

Yeah, um, the whole Dad scene during the big battle? Pretty intense.

Author Betsy Hart over at Betsy's Blog talks about the "bad dad" theme, too:

But it’s the subtle but clear messages that I liked most, messages about the meaning, value, and definition of family, and a dad who chooses to separate from his wife and children - which is presented in the film as meaning he’s sadly chosen to live “outside the circle of safety.”

I also like that this is no, “I am single mom hear me roar” diatribe. Just the opposite. Mom is beautifully holding her family together, but Dad’s importance is strongly felt in his very absence from the home. In fact, in one scene it’s clear that in leaving his family, he’s put his family into physical danger! S0, this actually becomes a “pro” husband and father message we just don’t get enough of in our culture today.

I'm not really following with Betsy's logic - the dads in this movie pretty much have their heads where the sun don't shine, and their families suffer for it. And Mom is pretty much clinging to the edge of sanity when the goblins come charging into the picture. She unites with her children against the goblin attackers, seizing a few kitchen knifes and remarking that it is lucky that they are New Yorkers (and therefore good with blades, I assume.) The goblins force the Grace family to bond in a new way, and if anything, this creates a "pro" goblin message. And you just can't get enough of that kind of message.

Another thing we can't get enough of when it comes to children's movies? Product tie-ins.

Denise at mama done went crazy fought the good fight against the lure of branded merchandise:

After watching Spiderwick this past Sunday, DJ predictably wanted to go out and buy some of the movie paraphernalia. Since we'd just dropped $35 on the movie (one of his friends tagged along, making me too self-conscious to smuggle in snacks, like I usually do), I was in no mood to spend another $25 on crap that would soon end up under a bed, along with... what was last week's hot thing?

Anyway, DJ threw a fit when I said we weren't going out to the store. He then sulked around for the rest of the night, concocting reasons for why I should buy him more stuff.

The next morning, DJ was apologetic about his behavior. Explaining his frustration, he noted that he had "cried soggy paper tears"--a phrase that caught me off-guard with its poetry.

Nevertheless - the battle rages on. Who will emerge victorious?

Did you see The Spiderwick Chronicles? What did you think?

______________________________________________________________________________________

Jenny Lauck is ready for some mammoths and spears and is hoping she's right in thinking that the BC stands for muscular Bare Chests. 10,000 of 'em.

BlogHer - The Spiderwick Chronicles - CGI Mayhem for the PG Crowd - Comments

True

My daughter LOVED it

we saw it a while back and while the kids

The Spiderwick Chronicles - CGI Mayhem for the PG Crowd