The Spiderwick ChroniclesPoignant enough  February 13,
2008 2:31:05 PM
Freddie Highmore
|
Based on the popular children’s-book series and directed by Mark Waters, the film version of The Spiderwick Chronicles centers on the three Grace siblings and their interactions — some friendly, some potentially deadly — with fairies and goblins. Freddie Highmore plays both of the identical-twin Graces, Jared and Simon (Sarah Bolger is sister Mallory), and he gives them separate identities, Simon nerdy, Jared angry over his parents’ impending divorce. That divorce and, more specifically, the relationships between unreliable fathers and their children play a central role, the Grace kids’ family life overlapping with and echoed by their supernatural adventure. It’s all handled with a deft touch, giving the film a poignance that balances nicely with the PG-level action. 97 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Circle + suburbs
|
 |
|
- Some Things at Trinity
- Never mind its tough-girl alt-porn feminism: SuicideGirls has already moved on to a new generation
- If you want to lose the ‘fright wig,’ try ditching your shampoo
- In honor of National Boss Day, thePhoenix.com presents the ultimate kingpins
- A bad Review of some campus elitists
- At 67, Plácido Dominingo makes his Boston concert Debut
- Goodbye, Friend
- Massachusetts may be beyond reform, but couldn’t Governor Patrick try a little harder?
- Valerie goes Down Under
- Brahms from Levine and Kissin, Emmanuel’s Bach B-minor Mass, the Cantata Singers’ Kurt Weill cabaret
- What the Bayside Glacier can teach us about Portland’s sewage problem
- Ramon Martinez, Bill Harley, Ren Whitaker, and Bob Fusaro
|
-
Dutifully soporific
-
Agonizingly boring
-
Doesn't kick it soon enough
-
All funked up
-
Better than generic holiday fare
-
Introducing reggaetón
-
Crass and crude and mostly annoying humor
-
The legendary playwright is better
-
Predictability ensues
|
- Nobody knows
- Unforgettable direction
- A bloodless slasher flick
- Sexy but emotionally failing
- A limp comedic effort
- Big screen fairy tale
- Majesty and manure
- Clear and serene
- Hilariously good gorefest
- FirstWorks sends in the puppets
|
|
|
|