Fantasy world comes alive in ‘Spiderwick’

Freddie Highmore plays twins Jared and Simon Grace, who have moved from New York City into a rural mansion that once belonged to their eccentric great-uncle, Arthur Spiderwick.

Life with teenaged sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and mother Helen (Mary-Louise Parker) has been different due to their parents’ impending divorce.

He passes time acting out his anger on his siblings and his mother, who he blames for the divorce.

It doesn’t take him long to discover Spiderwick’s attic, infested with insects but home to a very large, very mysterious book.

This book, of course, is the Spiderwick Chronicles, a how-to guide about the magical realm, compiled by Uncle Spiderwick before his sudden mysterious disappearance 80 years earlier.

Jared ignores a warning on the cover not to open the book (the best way to get someone to do something is to tell them not to do it, after all), and immediately incurs the anger of the house “brownie” Thimbletack, an elfin creature voiced by Martin Short.

Thimbletack warns Jared that by opening the book, he has reawakened the goblins that live in the forest.

Their master Mulgarath will stop at nothing to get his hands on the powerful secrets inside the book.

Luckily, there is a circle of protection spell cast on the house by Spiderwick, which keeps the family fairly safe inside, but when Mulgarath gets his hands on some key pages of the book, it’s a race against time before the circle is broken and the family must fight for their lives.

With the aid of a magical ring made of stone, Jared convinces Simon and Mallory to team up with him.

Together with Thimbletack and Hogsqueal (a hog-goblin seeking revenge on Mulgarath for murdering his entire family), they go on a search for Spiderwick to find out how to protect the book.

Fortunately Mallory is a fencing champ and she can fight off the evil creatures.

Discovering a secret tunnel under the house which leads to town, they are able to make it to a mental institution where Spiderwick’s daughter Lucinda (Joan Plowright), was unfairly imprisoned after his disappearance.

She saw her father captured by fairies when she was just six years old and people think she is crazy.

It doesn’t help that her house is full of oatmeal, honey, vinegar, salt and tomato sauce, all for keeping away the creatures, she claims.

There is enough fast-paced, exciting and sometimes scary adventure here to keep you glued to your seats and thrill even the least attentive youth.

Similar to bits of “Harry Potter” and “Narnia”, there’s a battle with the goblins, riding a griffin, trolls, getting swept up by fairies, and then just your average sibling rivalry.

At the start of the movie, when Jared first started prowling around the house, there is an eeriness, egged on when the goblins capture their first innocent victim, proving they mean business.

Though rated PG, this movie is not meant for younger children, who may have nightmares thinking about the scary goblins, as well as the tunnel chase with the troll.

For adolescents and up, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” is more-than-worthy entertainment, a classic adventure with its heart and its sense of whimsy in all the right places.