The Spiderwick Chronicles – Field Guide Edition (Blu-Ray + 2-Disc DVD)
Picture:
B/B- Sound: B/B- Extras: B+ Film: B-
For a
film that transformed a five novel series into a single film, the theatrical
rendering of The Spiderwick Chronicles
is quite faithful and captivating. This
reviewer feels the main problem with The
Spiderwick Chronicles was the marketing.
The film from the very beginning was portrayed as a fantasy oriented
children’s story, but did little to promote the fact that older individuals may
like it as well. Now the film is surely
not Lord of the Rings or even Harry Potter, but it blends a great
deal of action, fantasy, and good old story telling that any age could
enjoy. The film, though not a hundred
percent faithful to the novels, does manage to balance out the contributing
factors enough so that book-buffs and the unexposed alike can both enjoy
without hindrance.
The film
features Freddie Highmore (Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory) playing dual roles as twins Jared and Simon. Simon and Jared have very different
personalities, Simon being the passive one and Jared being constantly
dissatisfied one, but Highmore manages to pull off the polar opposite qualities
incredibly well. The film is based on
the novels by writers Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. The story of Spiderwick follows the Grace
family as they move to a rural community after a recent divorce. The children are all handling the events of
the divorce very differently and moving to a new creepy mansion, previously
owned by an aunt who is now in a mental institution, is not helping matters
much. Jared being the most disgruntled
of the children, sets out to explore the more unusual and forbidden parts of
the mansion. On his travels about the
house he finds a mysterious book that was locked in a chest with a strict
warning not to open or read. But the
classic forbidden fruit of knowledge is too much to handle and Jared soon
embarks on an adventure he could have never even thought of in his wildest
dreams. Jared studies the books words
and magic intently as it is full of secrets about the old house and surrounding
lands that no one else knows.
Along the
way Jared meets a plethora of creatures including those voiced by comedy greats
Martin Short and Seth Rogen. It is not
until Jared’s twin Simon ventures beyond the protective barriers of the estate
(NOT in the books) that trouble begins.
Simon (looking much like Jared) is captured by an evil band of ogres
that want nothing more than to get their hands on the secrets that are held
within the Arthur Spiderwick Chronicles.
The film shifts from learning about the fantastical world of the estate,
to saving Simon and warding off the evil forces that surround them. The film is exciting with a good mix of
fantasy, action, and adventure. The CGI
aspect of the film is also well done and brings the fantasy aspect of the film
to the next level.
This
reviewer as previously stated did not love the film anywhere near as much as
any of the Harry Potter Films or Lord of the Rings, but it definitely
holds its own strong merits in the fantasy genre. The film is acted very well with eye catching
sets. Highmore most of all stands out as
the star and as he matures shows that he has some strong acting chops that will
taking him far.
The
technical features on both the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of The Spiderwick
Chronicles are not magic or fantasy, but all around very nice. The picture on the Blu-ray release is
presented in a 2.35 X 1 Widescreen that has a very solid color palate, with
good skin tones where the CGI animation blends almost flawlessly with the real
life stars. The CGI creatures are
amazingly realistic and Industrial Light and Magic did an excellent job in
bringing the fantasy aspect of the novels to life. Overall, the 1080p image was very easy on the
eyes and made the film even more enjoyable.
The DVD release, also in 2.35 X 1 Widescreen, is very nice but the
colors and light/dark balance in no way compare to the presentation of the
Blu-Ray Disc, lacking that certain degree of crispness that High Definition
brings to the table. The sound
presentation on the Blu-Ray is also impressive as it boasts its 5.1 Dolby
TrueHD track that really encompasses the creepy creatures across the soundstage
as well as bringing the power to the foreground in the more action oriented
sequences with the 48 kHz output and variable bitrate. There were minor flaws here and there, but
the general public for the most part won’t be able to pick up such minor
happenings. The DVD uses a more simple
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround that is ok, but once again does not get the job done
like the Blu-Ray, never filling out the soundscape quite as well.
The
extras are very well done on this set, but due to this reviewer’s only mild
like of the film and the nature of the extras, they do not maintain a very good
rewatchable quality. The extras included
on both the DVD and Blu-Ray Disc include such features as Spiderwick: It’s All True, It’s
a Spiderwick World, Arthur
Spiderwick’s Field Guide (specially enhanced ONLY on the Blu-Ray), Spiderwick: Meet the Clan, Making Spiderwick, The Magic of Spiderwick,
A Final Word of Advice…, trailers,
and Deleted Scenes. On the Blu-Ray
release most of the extra features are in High Definition, but don’t compare to
the quality of the film. The extras
pretty much encompass every aspect of the film and give much insight into its
creation. The extras cover such areas as
the creatures, the CGI, the original inspirations, the human characters, and
much, much more. The extras on their own
each last about 10 minutes average, but all together give an extensive amount
of material to dive into. With so many
Blu-Rays today lacking extra features STILL, it is nice to see studios like
Paramount putting some time and effort into what the fans want.
- Michael P. Dougherty II