The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a terrific entertainment for the whole family, except those below a certain age, who are likely to be scared out of their wits. What is that age? I dunno; they're your kids.

Not only does the film throttle forward with the best breathless adventure films, it has an emotional depth sometimes missing from other Chronicles of Narnia-like attempts at fantasy franchise development.

Not that we need another potential fantasy franchise, but The Spiderwick Chronicles is decidedly better than most.

Occasionally the film’s brisk pace produces magic solutions to plot problems that rob the scenarios of dramatic weight.

The studio has found its next great franchise with The Spiderwick Chronicles.

It always feels like a minor miracle whenever Hollywood adapts a children's book into a movie and just nails it -- the look, the tone, the characters, the lack of condescension. And The Spiderwick Chronicles nails it beautifully.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a good old-fashioned fantasy-adventure, complete with a creepy house, serious secrets, ghastly goblins and one ornery ogre.

Fans of the Spiderwick books are sure to be thrilled by the movie, which also is guaranteed to win new readers for the series.

The movie has some good special effects and well-done computer-generated images: hordes of goblins that resemble giant toads from hell, a fearsome ogre and beautiful flowery sprites.

The film version of Spiderwick may disappoint children who loved the books, given all the key fantasy creatures it omits, from dragons to dwarfs to elves to the gentle unicorn and Lewis Carroll-esque phooka.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is probably the creepiest, most disturbing, PG-rated kids film to come along since the 2006 animated feature Monster House.

The Spiderwick Chronicles hands us a new fantastical adventure to capture our imagination -- and make us grab the edge of our seats. It’s definitely not for the youngest faint of heart.

It has plentiful whimsy, a big enough heart and Joan Plowright in one fine scene, burbling magnificently.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a refreshingly spry, modest adventure: It's pocket-size where The Golden Compass and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe felt like encyclopedias.

A cut above the usual kiddie fare.

As movie fantasies go, The Spiderwick Chronicles has a modest, almost ramshackle aggressiveness that, against all odds, manages to enchant, if not exactly transport.

The Spiderwick Chronicles might not be an unforgettable epic on par with "the boy who lived,” but thanks to its striking visual style and engaging sense of wonder, it achieves a life of its own.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a prime example of how ever-better computer-generated imagery has brought magic and fun to live-action children's films.

The film underscores the power of reading, and applying what we read to problem-solving.

The young actors are terrific and the movie immerses us in a nicely photographed universe with its own rules about everything from tomato sauce to sylphs.

Spiderwick is a really fun, fast-paced adventure story that never gets bogged down by excessive backstory and insider-only minutiae.

If you took The Chronicles of Narnia and slapped it together with Harry Potter and made it American and a little cruder -- and not quite as charming you'd have The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Part wistful reflection, part man-hungry aggression, The Spiderwick Chronicles is an exciting, terrifying and streamlined adaptation of the popular series of young adult books.

The special effects are top-notch and, at times, extraordinary.

The film is graced with a mostly superb cast, superior special effects, a sparkling musical score by James Horner and a fantasy-filled plot with a bit of moralizing, but, fortunately, only a bit.

As kids' movies go, this is no Harry Potter, but it's an enjoyable enough adventure -- with just enough scariness.

While the film is essentially an action flick for kids, it's nice that the script, which was doctored by John Sayles, is willing to tackle real-life sources of pain for both parents and children.

Part of what keeps this from being just another children's fantasy is director Mark Waters' sensitivity to the way the enchanted elements deepen the emotional journey.

This adventure of preteens encountering a mythical realm lacks the scope of the other entries in the Harry Potter sweepstakes, but it still manages to provide scares and action for the under-12 set.

Although not quite a Harry Potter blockbuster, the fantasy and magic of The Spiderwick Chronicles is much more involving and satisfying than, say, The Golden Compass and other films that have ventured into the precarious realm of effects-laden adventures.

The studio has taken the hugely popular five-book Spiderwick series, scrapped Book Four entirely, and squeezed the other four books into 90 minutes of plot.

Spiderwick still feels like the latest installment in a seemingly never-ending string of fantasy-book adaptations, which means that most of its elements have already been revealed in one way or another via other films.

Between a Jurassic Park-style monster chase and some legitimately creepy critters, Spiderwick is a lot trippier than anything in Strange Wilderness.

If only the film had thrown in a reason to care, it might have been something to remember.

Spiderwick is set in the present, but goes for an overall design look of dainty, cozy, William Morris-y arts-andcraftiness.

The Spiderwick Chronicles follows safely in the footsteps of the various modern children's adventure stories that have been springing up like weeds since the success of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.

It's a good movie for its type, but it rarely stops to let us marvel at the world it creates.

It's all fairly standard kid-level adventure that probably will please those who have read the books but merely amuse those who haven't.

Spiderwick combines the magic effects of more robust fantasy franchises with the story of a family under divorce duress without going too dark.

The Spiderwick Chronicles moves so fast, you have no time to question the logic of the fairy (or should that be faerie?) world to which it takes us.

With Harry Potter MIA until November, and no chance to revisit Narnia before May, The Spiderwick Chronicles should pass as a suitable substitute for young adventurers (and the grownups who love them).

Too scary for a kiddie flick? Does it impress with a hatful of magical movie tricks? Hell, yeah. And a lot more.

The pace is so swift and the creatures so icky that there's no time to examine the workmanship on the shaky contraption of a plot, which, even allowing for Faerie cosmology, seems a mite far-fetched.

Spiderwick combines the magic effects of more robust fantasy franchises with the story of a family under divorce duress without going too dark.

Director Mark Waters keeps Spiderwick moving like crazy, which frees it from the overblown quality that bogs down some of these fantasy epics.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is harmless and diverting fare for its primary audience: older children and younger teenagers.

With echoes of E.T. and the Harry Potter films, Spiderwick tries to give viewers a sense of wonderment, juxtaposing it with the floundering of hurt children trying to make sense of their parents' selfishness. The two elements don't fuse easily.

Considering his PG-rated, family-friendly mandate, director Mark Waters does pretty well in the thrills-and-chills department.

Digitally conjured storybook creatures have the rubbery presence of models, and the photography and special effects evoke an older era of fantasy.

It's a little too incomplete in its storytelling to make adults love it, and far too scary for young children to enjoy.

What will their parents think of having to sit through The Spiderwick Chronicles? Unlike their experience with most family fare aimed at the kids, it’s likely they won’t be wishing they were somewhere else.

A smaller franchise that lacks the obsessive fanbase or religious controversy that got previous genre entries attention, but has all the heart and adventure that many lacked.

The Harry Potter children's-fantasy-book-to-fantasy-movie clones just keep coming, but none of them can measure up to the magic that Master Potter conjured up.

There are too many critters to keep track of, and for all the emotion packed into the family scenes, little of that transfers to the fantasy sequences.

If you like your fantasy on the frilly side, if you want nothing but monster money shots and effects-laden action scenes, The Spiderwick Chronicles will definitely satisfy such one-sided needs.

Kids will be leaving the theater asking, "When does the next Narnia movie come out?"

Fatherless children are the order of the day, but Spiderwick Chronicles develops this theme no more than the absolute minimum.

The obvious product of a corporate search for the next great fantasy franchise.