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Ervell E. Menezes finds The Spiderwick Chronicles an ideal family entertainer
Horror these days comes in a variety of hues, not like in olden days when it was horror, horror and more horror. Today the formula has changed and the horror is diluted with wit and computer graphics help make some creatures look harmless and even friendly. We are talking about griffins and boggarts (nothing to do with the late Humphry), phookas and sprites, goblins and what not which people The Spiderwick Chronicles, a refreshingly delightful entertainer. When we meet the Grace family, they are relocating from New York to a distant small town and a rundown Victorian mansion (twice as big as Norman Bates motel) because Helen (Mary Louise-Parker) has split from her husband and the children Jarred and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore) and tomboy teenager Mallory (Sarah Bolger), who bosses over her brothers, are with her. It’s an ideal setting for horror and suspense as the possibilities are immense, and scriptwriters Karey Kirkpatrick, David Barenbaum and John Sayles cash in on it without making a glutton of a meal of it and director Mark Waters maintains that tempo and imbues it with the right pauses for the story to sink in. Jarred, of course, is the most daring of them, ever ready to reach new frontiers and this old mansion has enough of them. Simon is the more nerdish of the two and the common enemy is naturally Mallory. So the children are doing their own thing while ma Helen is still recovering from her separation. "New house, new job, must not fall into old ruts," she tells her children but Jarred is quick to blame her for boring his dad with her hysterical incessant patter. Till then, he is not aware of the separation. Enter, Brownie Timbletack (a good mix of E.T and Yaba the Hut), an enchanted creature who lives in the walls of the house to protect the Chronicles book and tells the children all about Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) and his research into ogres, spirits, fairies and sprites and how Ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) got his revenge on Spiderwick by making him vanish. Then there is Aunt Lucinda (Joan Plowright) but that’s jumping the gun. It doesn’t take long for the three children to experience strange happenings and how these creatures (hundreds of them, created by Industrial Lights and Magic ILM, Spielberg special effects company) want to attack the Grace family. But a circle of salt keeps them away. Then, there’s a special eyeglass to see the invisible and other gags, ranging from the funny to the bizarre. There’s a huge bird or griffon flapping its wings and when the children ride on it and that is easily the most exhilarating part as the viewer soars on a roller-coaster ride with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel at his best. Incredible, no doubt, but workable and before long all the ends are neatly tied and quaintly too. Director Waters manages to keep the right balance between form and content and Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and August Rush) displays an excellent range of emotions and gets under the skin of both roles to become another MacCaulay Home Alone Culkin. An exuberant and attractive Sarah Bogler provides adequate support but Mary Louise-Parker is essentially academic. David Strathairm and John Plowright do their little bits in this ideal family entertainer for the summer vacation.
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