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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
