This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.

There are two kinds of fantasy adventures — those that take place in another world (The Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass), and those in which the fantasy world exists parallel to and often spills into our own (The Chronicles of Narnia, Pan’s Labyrinth). The Spiderwick Chronicles belongs in the latter category. Much more fantastical and far more handsome than the trailers reveal, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a thrilling adventure for children of all ages.

The Grace family could use a little grace of their own. Dad has run off with another woman and is seeking a divorce, something Mom, Helen (Mary-Louise Parker), is trying to hide for as long as possible from her twin sons, Jared and Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore). While Simon is gentle and compassionate, Jared is short tempered and given to bouts of destructive anger. Unable to process his family’s disintegration, Jared is taking it out on those who love him the most.

Desperate for a new start on life, Helen moves the family from New York to the secluded Spiderwick Estate in rural Vermont, once owned by her great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Peculiar things begin to occur the moment the Graces step into the spooky Victorian mansion. Bedeviled by strange disappearances, bumps in the night and mischievous attacks on his sister, Mallory (Sarah Bolger), all accusatory fingers are pointed in Jared’s direction.

Out to prove his innocence, Jared stumbles upon a secret room that contains “Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You,” a book with a dire warning: to read it is to invite certain death. Like Jumanji, it is not a question of if, but when Jared will crack Pandora’s box. Partly out of rebelliousness and partly out of a reasonable incredulity, Jared delves into the book. Inside, written in Arthur Spiderwick’s own hand, is a primer to a magical universe that exists, invisible, all around us. While his uncle speaks of befriending many of the otherworldly creatures there, he also warns that a malevolent, shape-shifting ogre known as Mulgarath seeks the knowledge to be found within the book’s pages and plans on using it to enslave both the magical and the human realm.

Soon the Grace children’s eyes are opened to the fantastic truths within the book and the enchanted creatures that inhabit the Spiderwick Estate alongside them. It isn’t long before Mulgarath and his goblin army turn all their dark energies to wresting the book from the house and destroying all within its walls.

It should come as no surprise that Spiderwick is being executive produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, the husband and wife team responsible for most of Steven Spielberg’s most enduring films. No surprise, because Spiderwick is rife with Spielbergian touchstones — a dysfunctional family, an absent father, a supernatural world stocked with fantastical creatures seeping into our own, childlike wonderment, and an imminent confrontation that can be won only by the innocent might of a child.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a narrative compression of the beloved, best-selling series of books by author Holly Black and illustrator Tony Diterlizzi. It is made in the best tradition of superb children’s fantasy, evoking “A Wrinkle in Time,” “Peter Pan,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Alice in Wonderland,” and of course, most recently, the “Harry Potter” series. While Spiderwick lacks Pan’s Labyrinth’s exquisite elegance and sinister poetry, the comparisons are inevitable and well deserved.

Spiderwick is something of a gamble. Trying to catch lightning in a bottle rarely works, but that is exactly what Paramount Studios is trying to do in capitalizing on the magic (and profitability) of such fantasy juggernauts as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter franchise. Just last Christmas, New Line’s identical attempt failed when its sprawling and expensive children’s fantasy epic, The Golden Compass, opened to a disappointing box-office and even more dismal reviews. Luckily, The Spiderwick Chronicles is superior in nearly every way. Excised of the religious and political baggage that coursed like subterranean tributaries through Compass, Spiderwick’s story is far more basic and trouble-free.

Director Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Freaky Friday) impressively balances both the reality and the fantasy elements in Spiderwick, creating a world suffused with daunting adventure, considerable humor and touching humanity. Freddie Highmore, still as adorable as when audiences first fell in love with him in Finding Neverland, continues to impress as he ages. Here, he pulls double duty as twins and, along with his across-the-pond co-star, Bolger, nails a flawless American accent. The lively CGI sprites, hobgoblins, trolls and slobbering ogres mesh seamlessly with the film’s naturalistic, painterly cinematography. James Horner turns in the sort of pitch perfect, if self-plagiarized fantasy score, for which he is famous.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is an enjoyable adventure fantasy that is sure to cast a spell over audiences.

© Copyright 2008 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.