DVD Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles Blu-Ray
Filed under: — Family, Movies
Written by: Dominick at 11:38 PM
Writers: Karey Kirkpatrick, David Berenbaum, John Sayles, Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black
Director: Mark Waters
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Nick Nolte, Mary-Louise Parker, Joan Plowright, David Strathairnk, Seth Rogen, Jordy Benattar, Martin Short, Andrew McCarthy
Rating: PG
Studio: Paramount – Nickelodeon
Release Date: June 24, 2008
It is very hard to find shows and movies that I can enjoy with my teenage son. Most of the shows geared towards a teen crowd, these days, are not funny, not well written or just not my style. Most of the movies are either spin-offs of these shows (such as the Hannah Montana concert movie) or star actors who perform on these shows (High School Musical anyone?). I grew up in the 80s. I had plenty of good movies to enjoy; things like The Breakfast Club, The Goonies and ET. So, when I find a movie that everyone in the family likes that movie is gold.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of those movies that everyone in the family liked. I found the story to be well written. The boys (my son and Dominick, who reviewed the standard version of the movie) loved the magic and action. I liked spending time with my family, something that is becoming a scarce event as my son becomes older and less willing to spend time with his parents. Paramount has found a way to bring families together and it’s all thanks to The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Release Information:
The Spiderwick Chronicles debuted in theaters nationwide on February 14, 2008. It had its film premiere earlier, in Hollywood, on January 31, 2008. This film had enormous success at the box office and critics, for the most part, have liked The Spiderwick Chronicles. I’m one of those reviewers. The Spiderwick Chronicles was based on a book series of the same name.
To produce this excellent film, the people at Paramount and Nickelodeon teamed up to make the book series into a movie. The stories were, obviously, condensed with the fourth book in the series virtually left out of the movie. Some minor changes were made to the story and the characters, but for the most part, The Spiderwick Chronicles follows the same plot as the books. Since the movie had such a nice run at the theater, the people at Paramount distribution have decided to release the movie on DVD today, June 24, 2008. The Spiderwick Chronicles can be purchased at your favorite place to buy DVDs. It can also be purchased online at Amazon and various other online retailers.
At Amazon, The Spiderwick Chronicles is available in multiple versions. There is a widescreen edition for $16.99, a Blu-Ray edition for $26.95, a full screen edition for $16.99 and a Two-Disc Field Guild Edition for $22.99. The review I’m doing is specifically for the Blu-Ray edition of The Spiderwick Chronicles.
The Spiderwick Chronicles Plot
I’ve never read the books, but from watching this movie, I’m interested in checking them out. I think the story would be excellent for my son, who enjoys reading. As my nephew gets older, I also believe that he would enjoy the books and the story behind The Spiderwick Chronicles. The movie has all the elements of a great action flick. There is danger, more than one action sequence, a battle of good versus evil and in this story, there are many mythical and magical elements to it.
The story follows the Grace family as they move from the big city (New York) into the Spiderwick Estate. The move is mainly because Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) is getting a divorce. She has inherited the house from her Aunt Lucinda, who is stuck in the loony bin. Apparently, Aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright) told the authorities her father, Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathaim), was kidnapped by fairies and they believed poor Lucinda was delusional. Still, Arthur did mysteriously disappear, so nobody ever confirmed or denied the story.
Helen is going through a rough time. Her husband has left her and one of her twin sons, Jared (Freddy Highmore), resents her for it. Jared is high spirited, angry, argumentative, and a bit of a troublemaker. This is quite different from his calm, quiet, and diplomatic brother, Simon (also Highmore). The boys are around the age of 14 and they have an older sister (who is 16 or so), Mallory (Sarah Bolgar). Mallory is a fencing star and she really doesn’t get along with Jared, blaming him for everything that goes wrong in life.
While Helen hopes her family can get settled in the estate, since she has already found a job in town and she needs this to work out so she can start to put her life back together, Jared has other plans. He already hates it there and he wants to go live with his dad (Andrew McCarthy), who doesn’t seem to have much time for any of his children. While Jared rebels against the move, Simon is blasé since he doesn’t enjoy fighting or confrontations. Mallory, the oldest and most mature of the Grace children, is aware of how her father has been treating the family so she is compassionate towards her mother.
The first night in the new house, Jared can’t keep himself out of trouble. He ends up punching a hole in the wall, when he hears something crawling behind it. This upsets his mother, though Mallory tells Helen to go to bed. She’ll clean it up. With Helen in bed, Mallory is adamant that Jared must clean up the mess. They end up making a bigger hole instead and behind it, Jared discovers a dumbwaiter. As Simon and Mallory go to bed, Jared takes the dumbwaiter up to a secret room. This room was the office of Arthur Spiderwick. In the dumbwaiter, Jared found a key and he was able to put the key in a trunk, which contained a large, sealed book, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide.
Jared takes the field guide to his room, though he is warned not to, by something in the secret room that wrote a warning in the dust on Arthur’s desk. The book also has a warning on it. The warning says that whoever opens the book is putting his/her life in danger. Of course, Jared is excited to read it. Simon doesn’t want to be involved with the book, so Jared curls up in a trunk and begins to read the book, which contains plenty of details about all the mythical creatures in Arthur Spiderwick’s world. While Jared is amazed by the contents of the book, he is jolted out of his reverie by the screaming voice of Mallory. A terrible prank has been pulled on her and no one believes Jared when he say he didn’t do it.
It isn’t long before the children are wrapped up in a world of magic. They meet Thimbletack (Martin Short), a brownie that becomes a boggart when angry (though he can be subdued with honey). They encounter evil goblins, which kidnap Simon thinking he is Jared. The goblins also try to kidnap Mallory, though she manages to avoid capture thanks to her fencing skills. The goblins want Arthur’s Field Guide for an evil ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte), who wants to use it to destroy the world. Jared also befriends a hobgoblin named Hogsqueal (Seth Rogan), who wants to get revenge on Mulgarath for destroying his family.
One of the most impressive parts of The Spiderwick Chronicles is the acting. Freddy Highmore is amazing in everything that he does. He’s pretty good for a child actor. It was kind of baffling because while you knew both Jared and Simon were played by Freddie, he played them so differently that you thought they might just be two different people. If he keeps this up, I’m not as scared about the future of Hollywood. It needs more actors like Freddy Highmore. I also absolutely love Mary-Louise Parker. She is not only very attractive, she’s also incredibly talented. Mary-Louise has a way of lighting up the screen. All of the actors did an excellent job. This movie had a really talented cast.
As I mentioned previously, I liked that I could watch The Spiderwick Chronicles with my son. It’s not only that. I would be content watching this even if he wasn’t there with me. I really liked this movie. I’d watch it again and I don’t say that much with the current set of movies Hollywood is putting out these days. As you can imagine, The Spiderwick Chronicles is highly recommended by this reviewer. If you don’t buy this on DVD, at least rent it. The movie is worth it.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
The video quality for the Blu Ray version of The Spiderwick Chronicles is decent. There are no compression errors and the video is free of both dust and grain. The colors are vibrant though the black has its moments of bleakness, but overall everything looks incredibly beautiful. The specs for the Blu Ray of The Spiderwick Chronicles have it set in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio with 1080p/avc video in anamorphic widescreen. This quality is slightly better than the quality found on the standard widescreen edition of the movie, which looks quite good, as well.
The audio was kind of disappointing for the Blu Ray version of The Spiderwick Chronicles. It didn’t sound any better or worse than the version on the standard DVD. The audio is available in English Dolby True HD 5.1. There are also Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in French and Spanish. There are subtitles in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Closed Captioning is available for the hearing impaired. The English track sounded okay, but not as impressive as a Blue Ray track should sound.
Visual: 
Audio:
Bonus Features:
There are a wide array of bonuses that come with The Spiderwick Chronicles Blu Ray DVD. The bonuses start out with a series of featurettes. There is an introduction by the director called “It’s All True”. This is kind of a funny intro because, as the name implies, he insists the story is 100% true. The next featurette is “Meet the Clan”. This is an interview feature with the actors as they introduce their characters to the audience. The featurette, “Making Spiderwick” is a basic making of featurette. There is also the featurette “The Magic of Spiderwick” which profiles the special effects used in the movie.
The fun continues with the “Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide” bonus. This is an interactive feature that allows viewers to have a sneak peek into Arthur’s Field Guide. There are plenty of facts you can learn about the mythical creatures contained within the guide. There are four deleted scenes, TV spots and finally there are trailers. This is a nice set, but it is disappointing to think that you’ll be paying more for a Blu-Ray DVD, but receiving less bonuses than on the Two Disc Field Guide Standard DVD Edition.
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Bottom Line:
The Spiderwick Chronicles is one of the best DVDs that I have seen this year. Considering the fact that you get fewer special features on the Blu Ray then what you do on the Two Disc Field Guide Edition and the quality is pretty good on both versions, you may want to save some cash by going with the Two Disc Field Guide Edition. Still, the Blu Ray is decent enough that if you’re a major Blu Ray fan, you won’t be disappointed. This is a must have movie for anyone regardless of age. Purchase this DVD now. It’s worth it!
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: The Spiderwick Chronicles, Two Disc Special Edition, Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolgar, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Martin Short, Seth Rogan, Paramount, DVD Review
Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.
