The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)
directed by Mark Waters
Story Skeleton: family moves into an old estate, one of the kids opens a book that collects fairy lore, an evil ogre wants the book to conquer fairy- and menkind, kids to the rescue
This is a pleasant enough fantasy movie for the whole family that is just a tad too predictable and generic for my taste. The movie felt like a melange of scenes from similar movies I’ve seen in the past, the evil trolls, the lovely fairies or whatever they were. Everything is played safe, the good and the bad guys are easily identifiable, the plot becomes obvious in the first ten minutes. Maybe I’m getting to cranky for this kind of stuff, but I miss a little bit of bite and uniqueness. And I find the old fantasy-wisdom of There Are Things That Are Better Not Meant To Be Written Down annoying. I’m sure nobody ever tried to inject such a movie with an anti-science message, it just comes with the territory. Still grating. As is using a deus ex machina for winning.
Rating: 3/5
