The Spiderwick Chronicles


Waters, Mark. The Spiderwick Chronicles. Hollywood: Paramount, 2008. 101 min. PG. ISBN 1415739218

Plot Summary: The movie is about the Grace family who moves into their Great Aunt's estate after the parents divorce. Jared and Simon become engrossed in a mysterious world of goblins, ogres, fairies and griffins after finding the secret library of their Great-great Uncle Spiderwick. Soon Mallory is forced into the world thanks to her fencing skills and the whole estate is turned upside down by the magical forces.

Critical Evaluation: The movie was a decent adaptation of the first book and kept all the main points. The animated creatures and super imposed twins were very believable.

Reader's Annotation: The Grace siblings are in for a battle when they get involved in the world of magical creatures.

Author Bio: Mark Waters, director of Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, Just Like Heaven and most recently The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, created believable twins Jared and and Simon Grace with child star Freddie Highmore. Included in the cast are Nick Nolte as the voice of the evil Mulgarath, Joan Ploughwright as Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick, Seth Rogen as the voice of Hogsqueal, Martin Short as the voice of Thimbletack, Mary-Louise Parker as mom Helen Grace and Sarah Bolger as sister Mallory Grace. Freddie Highmore recently lent his voice for the role of Astro Boy. Another hit in animated movies in the past few years is Seth Rogen, the voice of B.O.B in Monsters vs. Aliens and Mantis in Kung Fu Panda.

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Curriculum Ties:

Booktalking Ideas: A good movie to pair with the book series, either to promote the movie or the books. It would make a good jumping off point for the books, since it only covers the first book.

Reading Level/Interest Age: PG - ages 8 and up

Challenges:

Reason for including: I read the first book, love Holly Black, so I wanted to give the movie a try. I am usually disappointed by movie adaptations, but thought the representation of all the creatures was creative.

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