Kids are natural explorers and collectors – they behold the world with the necessary sense of wonder – and the ingeniousness of The Spiderwick Chronicles is the way it emphasizes those childhood qualities. The movie, based on the series of novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, centers on a “field guide to the fantastical world around you.” The book is discovered by three siblings in the dilapidated old house of a distant relative. Upon reading it, their eyes are opened to the fairies, goblins and trolls that the more literal-minded of us fail to notice. The PG-rated Spiderwick Chronicles stretches its rating – aside from the horrible monsters, there is the fairly gruesome climactic siege of the house, which plays like a kiddie version of a zombie flick – but hardy young viewers will be rewarded with a movie fantasy that’s in sync with their own fertile imaginations.
