BLU-RAY
REVIEW: The Spiderwick Chronicles
06/21/08
Finally, after a bunch of romantic
comedies, dramas, and a well marketed flicks, comes the most
magical and fascinating adventure ever seen yet, The
Spiderwick Chronicles. Based on the five books written by
Tony Dieterlizzi and Holly Black, this movie has everything
that a Fantasy movie can have: magic, adventure, story,
fearsome villains and captivating heroes. It is non stop fun
for children and adults, and to put more icing on the cake,
the movie is available on the IMAX which makes this
adventure a more pleasant experience. Nickelodeon and
Paramount picture created a wonderful picture that
entertains but at the same time teaches us valuable real
life lessons, it is the family event of the year. The Spider
Chronicles is rated PG for scary creature action and
violence, peril and some thematic elements.
The story is about the Grace family. After going through a
divorce, Helen (Mary-Loise Parker), Mallory(Sarah Bolger)
Jared and his twin brother Simon (both played by Freddie
Highmore) move from New York to an isolated and decrepit
house that used to belong to her Helen’s grand uncle. Jared,
the most trouble kid for the separation which is hoping that
his dad comes and take him back to New York, begins to
notice that strange things are happening in and outside of
this house, but everything falls in place when he finds a
secret studio belonging to his grand grand uncle Arthur
Spiderwick. In the hidden room Jared finds and opens a book
called Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical
World Around You, which possesses valuable information about
all the different creatures that live undetected to the
human eye. He later meets the house brownie, Timbletack, who
becomes friends with Jared. Timbletack tells him the story
about Spider wick’s book, the secret it conceals, the other
realm, and the war against a malign ogre, Mulgarath, who
wants the book for himself, and would do anything to get it.
Everything goes crazy when Mulgarath and his ogres find out
about the book and confront Jared and his family, now is up
to them to prevent Mulgarath to obtain the precious book.
The story itself is great, now the approach and delivery of
the whole staff is fantastic. Director Mark Waters did an
outstanding job merging the five books into this magical
masterpiece. He surely knew what to pick from each one and
presented it to the audience in the best way possible to
keep it in the movie. Although, the movie has some
fictitious characters and the main conflict involves the
magical world , Waters does not overemphasizes it, he shows
us what we need to know and presented it in a real setting
making the audience believe that it could be possible. The
heroes are real and ordinary people; they do not have any
powers, or have magical object to protect themselves; they
have to rely in their own and in each others abilities and
qualities to survive. Another important side of the movie is
that the heroes are also presented with real life conflicts
and behaviors shared by many families today; it touches
problems like divorce and its effect in kids, relationship
between brothers and sisters, and the parents-child
relationships, along with teaching us to appreciate nature.
The cast did an incredible job. Freddie Highmore really
impressed me doing his double role. He portrays each
character with great skills, adding the necessary qualities
and personality to each one making the audience believe that
there is actually twin brothers acting in the film. The
voices of the main fictional character are well interpreted
by their respective actor, Nick Nolte was perfect in the
Mulgarath role along Martin Short in his role of Thimbletack.
Audio visually speaking the movie looks amazing, watching it
in the Imax takes the movie to another level. The audience
will feel they are part of that world, and the special
effects are great, from the house, the backyard to the
magical creatures everything look astonishing. All the
characters are well develop from the fairies to the ogres,
all of them have a sense of property that make them unique
and adequate for the movie. Also many of the CGI characters
were really charismatic like the fairies, Thimbletack, and
my personal favorite Hogsqueal, which adds the humor part to
the movie with its funny remarks and amusing actions, it
reminded me of the Genie in Aladdin, Timon in The Lion King,
and Boots from Shrek. The only negative opinion about the
movie is that the main villain was design somewhat scarier
than what it should been, many young kids will be jumping
out of their seats in some scenes where this villain appear,
and that aside the villains there was not that much
interaction with the other characters that appear in the
books.
With a great cast performance and an intelligent script and
spectacular effects the Spiderwick Chronicles depicts almost
the same magic and adventure of the five books. If you are
waiting for an epic adventure like The lord of the Rings,
you might be disappointed, since there is no extraordinary
journey through incredible worlds and mesmerizing computer
scenes , nonetheless, the movie has magic in its own that
will captivate and surprise you as these epic movies did, I
recommend this movie for all fans of the fantasy and or
family genre who like movies like Bridge to Terabithia, the
Never Ending Story, and Pan‘s Labyrinth . The Spiderwick
Chronicles is the perfect blend between reality and fantasy,
it is the most imaginative movie since Pans’ Labyrinth.
Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
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VIDEO:
1080P Widescreen Version
AUDIO:
English, French
Spanish Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Nickelodeon did an incredible job bringing this movie to a
home entertainment format the 2 disk Field guide edition
looks amazing. From the moment you grab it you feel the
magic. It is designed like Arthur Spiderwick field guy with
seal and everything. Special Features wise it is the best I
have seen this year. It is full with interesting and
entertaining material about this magical world, puls the
already known making off, and deleted scenes.
Spiderwick It is all true!: it is an
introduction by Director Mark Water telling us that the
movie is based in a real story, also he introduces us to
different objects and characters of the movie like the
seeing stone, Thimbletack, hog squeal , and many more.
(7:06) (HD)
It is a Spiderwick World: it is a segment
where creators and directors tell the fans about the purpose
of the movie, and how they came up with the story,
characters’ names and designs. (8:46) (HD)
Arthur Spiderwick Field Guide: it is by far
the best feature in the first disk and it is the actual
field guide written by Arthur Spiderwick. Where it describes
all the magical creatures and objects seen in the movie, and
a way to protect ourselves from each one of them. (HD)
Field Guide in movie Mode: It is an option
where the user can jump from the movie to the field guide
when the creature appears in the movie. It is a fun way to
learn about the different creatures while watching the
movie. (HD)
Spiderwick: Meet the Clan: it talks about the cast
and crew along with the voices played by the actors, how
Sara Balger and Freddie Highmore had to hide their accent,
basically is the cast feature. (13:55) (HD)
Making
Spiderwick: This is the clasic making of feature. It
goes from the beginning of production, building the house,
and composing the music (20:55) (HD)
The
Magic of Spiderwick: this is how the magical
characters were develop, created, and animated. It goes in
detail from sketches, voice acting, and animation. (14:25)
(HD)
Final
Word of Advice: Director Mark Waters warns the
audience again that what we are about to see is real and we
better be prepare with salt, and tomato sauce. (1:52)(HD)
Deleted Scenes: a total of four deleted scenes that
did not make it to the screen. All of them were well deleted
although Messy kitchen in my opinion could have made it to
the movie without a problem. (8:15) (HD)
Nickelodeon TV Spots: A total of nine fragments
shown in the tv network advertising the movie. All of them
are persuasive. My favorites are the confessionals and the
Field guide tips(5:05).(HD)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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