The Spiderwick Chronicles (PG, 2008)
common sense media says
Book-based family fantasy is magical fun but also scary.
parents & educators say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this fantasy adventure has been aggressively promoted on Nickelodeon (which helped produce the movie). But even without the heavy rotation of commercials and cereal tie-ins, fans of the best-selling book series will want to see this big-screen adaptation; expect kids as young as 5 to express interest. But the under-7 crowd might be scared by a couple of intense sequences involving the goblins, head ogre Mulgarath, and the Grace children, who do get hurt (with bloody scratches) in the action. Although the movie is connected to merchandising deals with a few products, there isn't that much product placement in the actual film besides Quaker Oats and honey in plastic-bear containers. There's also no age-inappropriate language or sexuality.
Violence & scariness:
Siblings bicker and call each other names ("stupid," "idiot"); Hogsqueal catches and eats birds of all sizes; the ogre Mulgarath shape-shifts from human to monster form. The goblins hurt all three kids, leaving bloody marks on their legs/bodies. The climactic battle scene is pretty intense/frightening.
Sexy stuff:
Mallory tells her brothers that their father has "found someone else" and is living with the woman.
Language:
Minor: "hell," "idiot," "stupid," "crazy."
Consumerism:
Mom drives a Ford Explorer; the house is stocked with rows and rows of Quaker Oats and honey bears; the kids have New York Giants and Yankees memorabilia in their room.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking:
Not applicable.
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Most useful reviews by all members
OldBob13
teen, 16 years old
teen, 16 years old
Scarier than most kid's movies nowadays; iffy for tweens, fine for teens
The Spiderwick Chronicles is yet another book turned movie that doesn't quite satisfy. It's about the same old stuff: A kid discovers magical creatures. Nothing new, in other words. The Spiderwick Chronicles has very little to complain about, but it's just not new. Content issues abound, especially in the violence. Intense sequences include a a boy stabbing a monster pretending to be his father, a swordfight against monsters with limbs cut off, and a domestic tussle. The end scene is jarring too. Potty humor shows up, as does misuses of God's and Jesus's name. Once again, Spiderwick Chronicles is a decent fantasy for the tween-based audience that features some great effects but doesn't bring enough to completely satisfy. Kids searching for some fantasy fun should look into the Narnia movies.
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uusarahmcg
parent of 10 year old
parent of 10 year old
Scary and exciting (spoiler)
Wow, we all liked this movie, but I was really glad that I was able to prepare my daughter for the part when the monster makes itself look like the boy's father. When watching the movie, it appears that the boy kills his own father. Super scary moment. It's also pretty scary in general when the monster is chasing them around the house. All in all, it was a movie we liked, but it was almost too intense for my 8 year old.
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Yeah.
teen, 14 years old
teen, 14 years old
Check my page for other great recommendations.
I'm not here to give a review because if it shows up on my page its a 5 star movie and so therefore you know what i think about it.
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izzymommy
parent of 4 year old
parent of 4 year old
WAY too scary for non-teen kids!
I cannot believe this movie was okay-ed for kids as young as 8. Are you serious? It definitely should have gotten a pg-13 rating with a strong warning for younger children. This is way too scary for kids younger than 13! Even I thought it was frightening!
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FooZirc
kid, 12 years old
kid, 12 years old
Really good replica of the books
My teacher read us this series back in the 3rd grade, I was pretty little so I barely remember it, but this movie is a super good replica. I'm really happy that Freddie Highmore is in this movie, he's one of my favorite actors ever! I love "Arthur and the Invisibles" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"! There are a few parts in it that are a little scary like the end when they have that huge battle but nothing to to serious. There's one use of the H word "really Freddie?" but that's it. The most sex is that their Dad is living with another woman. It's an A+ in my view!
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fourleggedninja
parent of and 6 , 7 , 10 year old
parent of and 6 , 7 , 10 year old
Spoiler Alert!!!
While watching this movie we had to stop and occupy our 4, and 6 year old with something else in another room because it became too scary i.e. the house seems haunted by a poltergeist.
Spoiler!
Near the end, our biggest concern was when their father comes home and tells his son that he loves him. Then the son stabs his father because he believes his real father doesn't love him. Turns out that it wasn't his father but was actually the evil shape shifting ogre. The message I got was "if I believe my parents don't love me and they try to tell me other wise then maybe they are actually an imposter and I should kill them with a kitchen knife!" Just our opinion though.
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BlueCastle
kid, 10 years old
kid, 10 years old
great for six
I saw this movie when i was in KINDERGARTEN!
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leviky
kid, 9 years old
kid, 9 years old
awsome very good
very good movie I had just got it ive been wachting it over and over again
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DragonGirl1
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
A scary but magical story
The movie was enchanting, beautiful and magical, in I loved the pretty flower fairies and I admired Thimbletack for his loyalty, kindness and bravery especially he attacked the troll (in serpent form) to buy Jared some time, even when it nearly costed his life. But I must admit the Spider wick movie is overall intense and should have a PG-13 rate though nearly causing my eight year old sister to go into hysterics and I was near to screaming when Thimbletack was violently and savagely knocked out from the serpent-orge. But the animation is fantasic and it is wonderful to know that Lucile and Arthur Spiderwick was reunited with each other, but I strongly recommend that unless your child or your younger siblings are mature, are not frightened easily and have read the books, kids under 12 should not watch this film.
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nicolasconnault
parent
parent
Teenage mild horror, full of plot contrivances
This is a bit more than fantasy, there are quite a few bits that would qualify as mild horror, and some action scenes had me on the edge of my seat, which may be what teens are after, but would be too intense for smaller children.
The story itself has some good elements, but the plot is contrived in many aspects. The hobgoblin is probably the biggest contrivance in this movie, solving "annoying" problems for the film-makers, such as giving "sight" to all the kids so they don't have to find more seer stones, and eventually killing the big baddy in one gulp.
Another contrived part is the splitting up of the twins from each other, which occurs during the majority of the film. The parts where they are together are brilliantly done, but it is fairly obvious that it is technically very demanding, and was kept to a minimal.
The movie is quite full of such convenient twists that do not add to the story but merely seem to be there to avoid major inconsistencies or technical problems.
Otherwise, quite entertaining, although very predictable :)
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Little movie freak
teen, 15 years old
teen, 15 years old
Fun fantasy film is too scary and iffy 4 ages 8 - 10 !
(the Spiderwick Chronicles) is a fun fantasy film that is a bit too scary and iffy 4 ages 8 - 10 ! This fantasy film is an enjoyable,entertaining,and cool. There are intense scary action/violence/peril that 6 - 7 yr old children will be upset/frightening by. I think that childern ages 8 - 10 will be somewhat frightening by the scary battle sequences and possibly at the final battle at the last 15 - 20 minutes of the movie. I have already seen this movie twice and I gave a 3 1/2 (out of four stars)stars/ 4 1/2(out of five stars)stars/ an A -.
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TomZ1265
parent of 9 year old
parent of 9 year old
PG for a reason
My 7 year old agreed this movie was "too scary" about 20 minutes in when there is something implied as scary, but invisible, attempting to attack one of the child characters. He isn't usually bothered by this kind of thing, so we were surprised but immediately turned it off and switched to something lighter. I later completed the film- excellent and I highly recommend for fantasy fans, but definitely much too intense for 7 or 8 yrs. I would probably hold off until he has read the book(s?) or even age 11 or 12. Next time I will pay more attention to the "why" of the PG rating; in this case "For scary creature action and violence..." I am also not a big fan of "kids of divorce" themes, and the father in this story let's down the lead child character, but I probably need to simply accept it and then discuss with my child.
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johnthree16
parent of and 4 , 9 , 11 year old
parent of and 4 , 9 , 11 year old
Its not the best movie in the world
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Free2rhyme98
kid, 13 years old
kid, 13 years old
Boring, Confusing at times, and Stupid plot
The movie starts! Wait who are the characters? In the movie you don't even know the people's names until 20 minutes into the movie! All the kids do is fight and the mother can't control her own children! There was a confusing part in the movie which I don't think anyone would understand unless you read the books. This movie stunk!
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avidcritc
teen, 17 years old
teen, 17 years old
pretty good- will encourage reluctant readers
It could have been a lot worse. Within the first two minutes I decided Mallory was way too girly, fortunately I was wrong. Simon's part was much too small, and the ending was awful- awful- the way they handled Arthur Spiderwick (who happened to look uncannily like the illustration in the book) was just terrible. There is a lot of crashing-glass-breaking-walls violence toward the end, but no blood. There were a couple of lines where I laughed out loud ("I'm a pacifist.") and other than that, and the fact that they squashed all the books into one movie and except for one or two scenes decided the fourth book was irrelevant definitely detracted, but it's gotten my younger brother interested in the books and the movie as a whole was done pretty well. Also, the reason Jared knew to stab Mulgarath (I'm trying not to give any spoilers here) is a lot clearer in the movie than it was in the book. The scene in the book could be a little disturbing for a younger reader who didn't really understand it. The fact that the movie contains so much less information than the books do can be seen as an advantage, because it can encourage kids to pick up the books and find out there's a lot more to discover inside them.
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gentl2you
kid, 11 years old
kid, 11 years old
One of the Best
Probably one of the best movies I've ever seen! Although it had the H word in it, really? It's still one of the best, although it would be way too scary for little kids, for kids 10+, it's a must see.
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