The Spiderwick Chronicles

After the malarkey that was The Golden Compass, I was not excited about the latest attempt to jumpstart a franchise based on children’s books. Happily, this one—about a family moving into a house besieged by goblins—caught me by surprise. Freddie Highmore acquits himself nicely for August Rush by playing twin brothers who, with their mom (Mary-Louise Parker) and sister (Sarah Bolger), wind up in trouble after they find a fairy guidebook that dark forces wish to possess. The film is scary (perhaps too scary for its PG rating), but it’s good fun, in a Spielberg sort of way. The film even has the old Spielberg theme of the absent father. Yet, Spielberg didn’t direct the film; Mark Waters (Mean Girls), did, and it’s a nice effort. The creatures—voiced by the likes of Martin Short, Seth Rogen and Nick Nolte—are a great combination of CGI and Phil Tippett creature work. Major kudos go to Highmore, who plays twins without resorting to gimmicky extremes.