The Spiderwick Chronicles (film)
Encyclopedia
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a 2008
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...

 fantasy
Fantasy film
Fantasy films are films with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, make-believe creatures, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered to be distinct from science fiction film and horror film, although the genres do overlap...

 film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...

 of Holly Black
Holly Black
Holly Black née Riggenbach is an American writer and editor, best known for writing The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi.-Early life and education:...

 and Tony DiTerlizzi
Tony DiTerlizzi
Tony M. DiTerlizzi is an American fantasy artist, children's book creator, and motion picture producer.DiTerlizzi created The Spiderwick Chronicles series with Holly Black, and was an executive producer on the 2008 film adaptation of the series. He won a Caldecott Honor Medal for his adaptation of...

's bestselling series of the same name
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of children's books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into Spiderwick Estate and discover a world of fairies that they never knew...

. Set in the Spiderwick Estate in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

, United States, it follows the adventures of Jared Grace and his family as they discover a field guide to faeries
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

, battle goblins, mole trolls and other magical creatures. It was directed by Mark Waters and stars Freddie Highmore
Freddie Highmore
Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...

, Sarah Bolger
Sarah Bolger
Sarah Lee Bolger is an Irish actress. She is known for her role as Princess / Lady Mary Tudor on The Tudors and for her role as Mallory Grace in The Spiderwick Chronicles.-Early life:...

, Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress, known for her current lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds portraying Nancy Botwin, for which she has received several nominations and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2006...

, Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...

, Nick Nolte
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...

, and Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...

. Produced by Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies
Nickelodeon Movies is the motion picture production arm of children's cable channel Nickelodeon, originally launched in 1995. Its first film was Harriet the Spy. It has produced films based on Nickelodeon programs, as well as other adaptations and original projects...

 and distributed by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

, it was released on February 15, 2008. The film was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 on June 24, 2008 in the United States.

Plot

The film opens with Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn
David Strathairn
David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...

)in his study, a room filled with bugs and odd creatures in jars. He frantically puts together a book, binds it, and stamps his mark onto the cover, when a strange beastly sound is heard outside.

80 years later:

The Grace family: twins Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore
Freddie Highmore
Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...

), Mallory (Sarah Bolger
Sarah Bolger
Sarah Lee Bolger is an Irish actress. She is known for her role as Princess / Lady Mary Tudor on The Tudors and for her role as Mallory Grace in The Spiderwick Chronicles.-Early life:...

), and their mom, Helen (Mary Louise Parker) have recently moved from New York City to the Spiderwick estate after the parents' divorce. While Simon, Mallory, and Helen are excited, Jared hates the move and despises his mother for the divorce. In the boys' bedroom, there is a picture of Aunt Lucinda, Arthur's daughter, as a little girl, and they learn that she was taken to an asylum when she claimed her father was kidnapped by fairies.

Jared is overjoyed to get a call from his father, who promises to pick him up soon. Jared, Simon and Mallory then hear sounds in the wall. Mallory hits the wall with a broom, and an entire section of it collapses, revealing a dumbwaiter
Dumbwaiter
Dumbwaiter may refer to:* Dumbwaiter , a freight elevator or lift between building floors* Lazy Susan, a small rotating table or set of cabinets used for serving food* An auxiliary serving table or cart....

. Jared uses the dumbwaiter to haul himself up to the attic: a study. In the study, he finds a leather book titled: "Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You." Jared reads the book, despite a note warning him not to, and a montage shows that Arthur Spiderwick spent his entire life putting together this book of all the unseen, invisible creatures. He reveals that some are kind, while others are evil, like the ogre, Mulgarath.

The next day, Jared discovers a small creature, Thimbletack (Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...

). When Simon is suddenly grabbed by invisible beings and dragged away, Thimbletack gives Jared the "seeing stone", enabling him to see the invisible, evil goblins that are kidnapping Simon. Jared runs into the forest to look for him and finds a campfire with hanging cages around it. In one cage, he meets Hogsqueal (Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...

), a creature who gives Jared the "sight" so he can see the creatures without the stone. Simon is brought into the campfire, where an old man asks him if he knows who has the Field Guide. Simon goes back to the house for the book, and is confronted by Jared, who had seen the old man turn into Mulgarath. When they are attacked, the twins retreat inside a circle of mushrooms surrounding the house. Mallory is attacked by the goblins but is able to get into the house with the twins.

When goblins surround the house, Simon suggests that they visit Lucinda at the asylum. Jared and Mallory take a shortcut to the city and are chased by a mole troll, whom they escape. They make it to the asylum, where they meet their great aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright
Joan Plowright
Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...

). She explains what happened to her father: In a flashback, Arthur is shown making the circle while Lucinda plays nearby. She was attacked by the goblins and Arthur was taken away by fairies, leaving Lucinda to live her life fatherless. Lucinda tells Jared and Mallory that Arthur is still alive, held captive in a sacred glade by the sprites.

Hogsqueal informs them that the goblins will destroy the circle tonight and the three siblings ride Arthur's pet griffin to the secret glade, where they meet Arthur for the first time. Jared convinces Arthur to destroy the book, But he says he can't. Cause, the book needs to be safe from the goblins. Jared accused him for what he been done to Lucinda and Arthur knew he been kept in the glade for knowing too much. Then Jared felt ashamed for what he said to his mom during the fight in the car. Arthur tells him that he is the new book now that he will using the knowledge to kill Mulgarath and save his family, Jared knew it is the time to stop the goblins from getting attack the house. So he and the others make a quick getaway with griffin while Arthur distracts the sprites with a fake cookbook, He's surrounded and presumbly covered by the fairies.

That night, Jared and the others arrive to warn Helen, who comes homes after running over an invisible goblins in the yard, She's freaked out and has only the choice to believe that everything is real.

A few weeks later, Lucinda is let back into the estate. Arthur appears in a flurry of sprites and promises to never let her slip away from him again. As father and daughter touch hands, Lucinda transforms into a 6-year-old again. The two return to the fairy world together as Jared, his siblings, and his mother walk back into the house, finally a real family.

Cast

  • Freddie Highmore
    Freddie Highmore
    Alfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...

     as Jared/Simon. Jared is a young boy with anger problems, the most reluctant about the move to Spiderwick. Jared serves as the main protagonist
    Protagonist
    A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

    . Simon, Jared's identical twin, is a pacifistic animal-lover and serves as the deuteragonist
    Deuteragonist
    In literature, the deuteragonist is the second most important character, after the protagonist and before the tritagonist. The deuteragonist may switch from being with or against the protagonist depending on the deuteragonist's own conflict/plot.-History:Greek drama began with simply one actor,...

    .
  • Sarah Bolger
    Sarah Bolger
    Sarah Lee Bolger is an Irish actress. She is known for her role as Princess / Lady Mary Tudor on The Tudors and for her role as Mallory Grace in The Spiderwick Chronicles.-Early life:...

     as Mallory, Jared and Simon's older sister and the tritagonist
    Tritagonist
    In literature, the tritagonist is the third most important character of a narrative, after the protagonist and deuteragonist. In Ancient Greek drama, the tritagonist was the third member of the acting troupe....

    .
  • Mary-Louise Parker
    Mary-Louise Parker
    Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress, known for her current lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds portraying Nancy Botwin, for which she has received several nominations and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2006...

     as Helen Grace, the children's mother, who tries to keep her family together.
  • Martin Short
    Martin Short
    Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...

     as Thimbletack, a loyal house brownie
    Brownie
    Brownie may refer to:* Chocolate brownie, a baked good* Brownie , a legendary creature* Brownie * Brownie , a level in several guiding/scouting organizations* Brownies, a term used to describe fans of Chris Brown...

     who shapeshifts into an aggressive boggart
    Boggart
    In Englishfolklore, a boggart is a household fairy which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee...

     when he becomes angry.
  • Nick Nolte
    Nick Nolte
    Nicholas King "Nick" Nolte is an American actor whose career has spanned over five decades, peaking in the 1990s when his commercial success made him one of the most popular celebrities of that decade.-Early life:...

     as Mulgarath/Red Cap, a shapeshifting
    Shapeshifting
    Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...

     ogre
    Ogre
    An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...

     and the main antagonist
    Antagonist
    An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

    . Red Cap is a grouchy goblin
    Goblin
    A goblin is a legendary evil or mischievous illiterate creature, a grotesquely evil or evil-like phantom.They are attributed with various abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin. In some cases, goblins have been classified as constantly annoying little...

     general, the secondary antagonist
    Antagonist
    An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...

    .
  • David Strathairn
    David Strathairn
    David Russell Strathairn is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck...

     as Arthur Spiderwick, the author of the magical book.
  • Joan Plowright
    Joan Plowright
    Joan Ann Plowright, Baroness Olivier, DBE , better known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English actress, whose career has spanned over sixty years. Throughout her career she has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy, and two BAFTA Awards...

     as Aunt Lucinda, Spiderwick's daughter.
  • Seth Rogen
    Seth Rogen
    Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...

     as Hogsqueal, an unintelligent bird-eating hobgoblin
    Hobgoblin
    Hobgoblin is a term typically applied in folktales to describe a friendly but troublesome creature of the Seelie Court.The most commonly known hobgoblin is the character Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck, however, is only another name given to a much older character named Robin...

    .
  • Andrew McCarthy
    Andrew McCarthy
    Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...

     as Richard Grace, divorced father of the Grace children, who was responsible for the divorce, as he had left their mother to live with another woman.
  • Tod Fennell
    Tod Fennell
    Tod Fennell is a Canadian actor who has appeared in several film and television roles. He was born in Montreal. As of February 2008, he has a total of 27 credits.-Filmography:*Lassie*The Reagans*The Spiderwick Chronicles...

     as Helen's co-worker.
  • Jeremy Lavalley as the tow-truck driver who runs over the mole troll
    Troll
    A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...

    .

Production

In an interview, Sarah Bolger said that filming took four to five months. She said that she "was [in front of] the blue screen like 24 hours a day", and for the most part, she was "kicking and slicing and chopping things that were nowhere near". Since Bolger had many fencing scenes, she had five weeks of intense training, and three hours with the Canadian Olympic fencing coach nearly every day.
The MPAA rated this movie PG for scary creature action & violence, peril & some thematic elements.

Reception

The Spiderwick Chronicles received generally favorable reviews from critics; it was called "decent entertainment," "a work of both modest enchantment and enchanting modesty," and "modest and reasonably charming." However, it was criticized for its reliance on special effects; a reviewer for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

said that the movie "feels more like a sloppy, secondhand pander" and called it "frantic with incident and hectic with computer-generated effects," and another said that "the sense of wonder and magic is lost in the shuffle."

Despite some negative reviews for the film overall, Freddie Highmore was generally praised for his dual role as the twins Simon and Jared. One critic said that he "skillfully portrays two distinctive personas," another said he "[had] no trouble grasping the task at hand," and a third remarked that, "the most special effect is probably Highmore".

As of October 2008, the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 reported that 80% of critics gave the film positive reviews with an average rating of 6.6 out of 10, based on 135 reviews, and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 reported the film had an average score of 62 out of 100, based on 30 reviews.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed an estimated $19 million in 3,847 theaters in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, ranking #2 behind Jumper
Jumper
-Clothing:*Sweater or heavy sweater pulled on over the head, used in the UK and Commonwealth*Jumper , in the USA, a sleeveless, collarless dress, known elsewhere as a pinafore or pinafore dress* Part of the uniform of the United States Navy...

at the box office. With the opening day's gross on Thursday included, the film grossed an estimated $21.3 million on its opening weekend. This film has grossed $162,839,667 worldwide.

Video game

Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...

 enlisted Stormfront Studios
Stormfront Studios
Stormfront Studios was a video game developer based in San Rafael, California which had one of the longest creative histories in the industry. In 2007, the company had over 50 developers working on two teams, and owned all its proprietary engines, tools and technology. As of the end of 2007 over...

 to develop and produce a video game adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles, following the general storyline of the books and film. It was released, shortly before the film's opening, on February 5, 2008 for Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...

, PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

, Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

, and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

, and rated Everyone (E10+) by the ESRB
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...

.

DVD release

USA Europe Australia
June 24, 2008 July 14, 2008 July 31, 2008


The Spiderwick Chronicles was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and Blu-ray on June 24, 2008, in both a one-disc edition and a two-disc special edition. Both include several supplementary features, and the special edition includes several more behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes
Deleted Scenes
A deleted scene is a scene removed from or replaced by another scene in the final version of a film or television series.It may also refer to:* "Deleted Scenes", an episode of the Adult Swim animated television series, Aqua Teen Hunger Force...

, Nickelodeon TV spots, and the theatrical trailer. The Blu-ray edition includes the identical special features of the special edition, along with a Blu-ray exclusive picture-in-picture
Picture-in-picture
Picture in Picture is a feature of some television receivers and similar devices. One program is displayed on the full TV screen at the same time as one or more other programs are displayed in inset windows. Sound is usually from the main program only.Picture in Picture requires two independent...

option called "Spiderwick: It's all true!"

About 1,499,476 DVD units have been sold, bringing in $27,354,612, roughly one third of the film's budget.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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