Film

Dozens of quality kid-lit staples have been turned into decent-to-drab movies; why should Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi’s award-winning series be exempt? Thankfully, the initial outing for the Grace family—rebellious Jared (Highmore); his appeasing twin, Simon (Highmore again); and their bossy sister, Mallory (Bolger)—sees the trio getting better screen treatment than, say, Lemony Snicket’s Gothic rug rats or Philip Pullman’s prepubescent heroine. Mark Waters (Mean Girls) retains the recipe of mythological beasties, a magic journal and underage messiah complexes, throwing in the requisite celebrity-voiced CGI creatures (Martin Short and Seth Rogen provide comic relief, while Nick Nolte’s two-pack-a-day rasp has never been used to better effect). And since children’s fantasy now fulfills the need that fairy tales once did, i.e., helps tots psychologically process the adult world in terms they understand, the film makes sure the story’s abandonment issues come full circle.

But what The Spiderwick Chronicles fails to capture is the sense of pixie-dusted wonderment that makes Black and DiTerlizzi’s tomes such page-turners. Other than Highmore’s impressive double-duty act, most viewers will find the film indistinguishable from every other kids-in-pointy-hats adaptation of the past few years. The voice of the novels is lost in translation; what’s left is something that’s merely by the book.