"The Spiderwick Chronicles," adapted from a series of short novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, is yet another attempt to forge a fantasy screen franchise from a book series, this one about a trio of siblings who discover a veritable Narnia in their own backyard. Freddie Highmore plays twin brothers, Sarah Bolger is their older sister, Mary-Louise Parker their harried mother in the midst of a rough divorce, and Nick Nolte is a nasty goblin king who hulks out into an animated forest demon. It has a nice fantasy mythology, a modest scope, and special effects that evoke an older era of fantasy, but the stripped-down adaptation of the five-volume series feels like it was cobbled together by a committee. Maybe it's fantasy fatigue, but for all the pretty effects and breathless chases and goblin battles, the sense of wonder and magic gets lost in the chase. Mark Waters directs. Features a trio of featurettes produced with the conceit that it's all a true story, beginning with the introductory "Spiderwick: It's All True" with Waters and continuing through "It's a Spiderwick World!" (authors Black and DiTerlizzi explain how the names are changed to protect the innocent) and the pages from "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide." The "2-Disc Field Guide Edition" and the Blu-ray edition feature more traditional behind-the-scenes features on the production ("Making Spiderwick"), the cast ("Meet the Clan") and the post-production effects ("The Magic of Spiderwick"), as well as four deleted scenes. The Blu-ray version also features the field guide as an "In-Movie Mode" pop-up trivia track.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
"The Spiderwick Chronicles," adapted from a series of short novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, is yet another attempt to forge a fantasy screen franchise from a book series, this one about a trio of siblings who discover a veritable Narnia in their own backyard. Freddie Highmore plays twin brothers, Sarah Bolger is their older sister, Mary-Louise Parker their harried mother in the midst of a rough divorce, and Nick Nolte is a nasty goblin king who hulks out into an animated forest demon. It has a nice fantasy mythology, a modest scope, and special effects that evoke an older era of fantasy, but the stripped-down adaptation of the five-volume series feels like it was cobbled together by a committee. Maybe it's fantasy fatigue, but for all the pretty effects and breathless chases and goblin battles, the sense of wonder and magic gets lost in the chase. Mark Waters directs. Features a trio of featurettes produced with the conceit that it's all a true story, beginning with the introductory "Spiderwick: It's All True" with Waters and continuing through "It's a Spiderwick World!" (authors Black and DiTerlizzi explain how the names are changed to protect the innocent) and the pages from "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide." The "2-Disc Field Guide Edition" and the Blu-ray edition feature more traditional behind-the-scenes features on the production ("Making Spiderwick"), the cast ("Meet the Clan") and the post-production effects ("The Magic of Spiderwick"), as well as four deleted scenes. The Blu-ray version also features the field guide as an "In-Movie Mode" pop-up trivia track.
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