THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES

Surprising addition to a saturated genre

By JOSH ELMETS

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Today's celluloid landscape is becoming increasingly tainted with extremely high-grossing residue and studio debris, often taking on the form of child-geared fantasy movies (read: The Golden Compass, Chronicles of Narnia). Shockingly, watching Nickelodeon Movies' latest release, The Spiderwick Chronicles, directed by Mark Waters, is much like a newborn baby's very first breath of air.

In short, the movie is about a family that moves from the metropolis of New York to a distant relative's countryside estate. Since this is a fantasy, we can all guess that this move does wonders for the children's imaginations, and the movie's protagonists, twins Jared and Simon Grace (both played by Freddie Highmore), are no exception. Fans of Finding Neverland will remember Highmore as playing the clinically depressed kid with no imagination, which is ironic, because Spiderwick's Grace boys possess such an abundance of imagination that the film's rational characters find it hard to believe them at times.

At this point, the exposition may seem like another generic fantasy movie—one that if we haven't already seen it, we've already tried to avoid. Sure, there are a few clichés, including one involving a kid opening a forbidden book, but the movie also pulls something off that most fantasies have a difficult time doing: the blending of the real world with the fantasy world. Harry Potter movies, and the books for that matter, try this and fail—the muggles never really interact with the wizards. In Spiderwick, however, the two worlds literally overlap and its approach is effective. Rather than taking the audience off to a distant land, Waters brings the netherworld home and it works. By pulling the viewer in, he achieves the all-so-important suspension of disbelief.

This movie probably won't appeal to those lacking in the children department. The artsy crowd will condemn it as, well, not a work of art, and the Lord of the Rings crowd will scream "blasphemy!" and possibly "plagiarism!" But truth be told, this really was an entertaining movie, and it should appeal to anyone looking for an engaging flick.

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES

RATED | PG

OPENS | 2.14.08