I know, I know, Spiderwick is the name of the guy who wrote the book, but still, I was expecting a spider of some sort within this strange fantasy tale. Was not all bad, but I can also see why this went no further than the one movie as it is really nothing all that special. Just seems more like it should have been a pilot for a television movie rather than a feature length film, maybe even a Netflix series. Some things just are not as good when transcribed from book to film and that may be the case here too.
The story has a mother and her children moving into a house because they cannot afford to live in New York anymore and as usual they somehow end up moving into what is essentially a mansion. Happens all the time in films and books and it is a bit of a tired trope. "Children, we cannot afford to live in this two bedroom apartment, but as luck would have it, I have access to a mansion in the middle of nowhere that will cost vastly less to live in!" Of course,there is one child who is not to keen about this, but then his brother is not exactly on his side, even though they are the same person! Then there is the sister who is annoying, but she knows fencing! cough foreshadowing cough cough. Well there is something in the house and it inadvertently leads to an upstairs secret room which houses a book that seems to have many secrets of mythical and wondrous creatures and opening seems to trigger things in motion leading to all sorts of nasty creatures looking for the book! The brother must find a way to protect the book and stop the creatures from taking the book, because there will be trouble if Mulgarath gets his hands on the book!
Freddie Highmore plays duel roles in this one as both twin brothers. He is more known now as the doctor with autism in, The Good Doctor. The film also has Andrew McCarthy in a small role which is a shock cause I have not seen him in anything in years! Dude used to be in everything! Nick Nolte is also in this film; however, his voice is used way more than the actor himself, though he does appear briefly as a human in this one. All the cast do okay , but the film is so by the numbers that it is not really all that surprising.
So, it was not a bad film, just a bit on the underwhelming side of things. Like I said, feels like a television pilot or something. For the most part, nearly all the action takes place around a house, but then we have this generic flying scene that does not look good to another bland locale. Just seems like this one should not have cost 90 million to make. It is not the worst movie though and has entertaining moments within, just not enough to be a really solid film.
The story has a mother and her children moving into a house because they cannot afford to live in New York anymore and as usual they somehow end up moving into what is essentially a mansion. Happens all the time in films and books and it is a bit of a tired trope. "Children, we cannot afford to live in this two bedroom apartment, but as luck would have it, I have access to a mansion in the middle of nowhere that will cost vastly less to live in!" Of course,there is one child who is not to keen about this, but then his brother is not exactly on his side, even though they are the same person! Then there is the sister who is annoying, but she knows fencing! cough foreshadowing cough cough. Well there is something in the house and it inadvertently leads to an upstairs secret room which houses a book that seems to have many secrets of mythical and wondrous creatures and opening seems to trigger things in motion leading to all sorts of nasty creatures looking for the book! The brother must find a way to protect the book and stop the creatures from taking the book, because there will be trouble if Mulgarath gets his hands on the book!
Freddie Highmore plays duel roles in this one as both twin brothers. He is more known now as the doctor with autism in, The Good Doctor. The film also has Andrew McCarthy in a small role which is a shock cause I have not seen him in anything in years! Dude used to be in everything! Nick Nolte is also in this film; however, his voice is used way more than the actor himself, though he does appear briefly as a human in this one. All the cast do okay , but the film is so by the numbers that it is not really all that surprising.
So, it was not a bad film, just a bit on the underwhelming side of things. Like I said, feels like a television pilot or something. For the most part, nearly all the action takes place around a house, but then we have this generic flying scene that does not look good to another bland locale. Just seems like this one should not have cost 90 million to make. It is not the worst movie though and has entertaining moments within, just not enough to be a really solid film.