Hogsqueal (with the voice of Seth Rogen) helps Jared Grace (Freddie Highmore) spy on some wicked creatures with evil intent in ''The Spiderwick Chronicles.'' (Courtesy photo)

By Bob Polunsky
Movie Critic

“The Spiderwick Chronicles” is like a trip to Oz with its host of fantasy characters. No tin woodman, cowardly lion or ambidextrous scarecrow is in sight, but you’ll feel like you went somewhere over the rainbow. 

It’s pure fantasy with the oddball characters hiding in the wings. Not everyone can see them. Those who look through a magical stone can. So do those who suffer a spit in the eye from a nutty hobgoblin.

But those are side issues. The main story is about the Grace family of three kids and a divorced mother moving into the ancestral home of their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) where they meet strange creatures like Thimbletack (Martin Short), an odd creature who warns them to stay clear of Great Uncle Arthur’s field guide to the fantasies within his dilapidated home. It reveals good and bad things about the weird creatures living in the estate, including such fantasy critters as the evil ogre Mulgarath (Nick Nolte) and why he wants that field guide for selfish purposes.

When you put all the creatures together, you have as many fantastic adventures as Dorothy did on the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. You also have some delightful child stars plotting and performing their own kind of miracles to keep the evil Mulgarath from getting his hands on Great Uncle Arthur’s field guide.

The movie has some scary scenes that would be disturbing if the Grace family’s kids didn’t fight back.

They are wily and wise enough to stay in control. The three kids include twins Jared and Simon Grace (both played by Freddie Highmore of “Finding Neverland” fame) and their sister, Mallory (Sarah Bolger), a girl with a wise head on her shoulders.  She not only sides with her mother, Helen (Mary Louise Parker), but also relays her mother’s instructions to stay calm through all the calamities. In short, she’s Helen’s right hand and doesn’t hesitate to make sure her twin brothers know it. They can be troublesome, but Mallory knows how to handle them.

Freddie Highmore does a credible job of playing the twin brothers. They are buffaloed by their mom’s divorce, but Mallory helps them cope with it. She also helps them cope with Great Uncle Arthur’s field guide that explained the existence of the fantasy creatures and the harm they could do if guided by an evil creature like Mulgarath. Keeping him from getting control of the field guide is the movie’s chief adventure, and it’s punctuated with delightful touches of whimsy that are more fascinating than scary.

That’s why the  “Spiderwick” books are still popular with youngsters of all ages.

The kids in the cast are involved in most of movie’s action, taking their cues from the cleverness of Martin Short’s Thimbletack, Seth Rogen’s unique voice inflections for Hogsqueal and Nick Nolte’s thunderous voice for Mulgarath. 

Studio rating: PG
Bob says: “Fun from start to finish”
3 Stars