Touches You

The Age of Commercialism

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Plot; When he and his family move into an old family estate, a young boy finds a book that opens his eyes to an unseen world of goblins and monsters. Came out at the tale end of Hollywood's "Get me the next Harry Potter!" phase (which was followed by the "Get me the next Twilight!" phase, which was followed by the "Get me the next Hunger Games!" phase, etc.). Fares better than most, w/solid direction and great performances from a young Freddie Highmore (in a duel role) and Sarah Bolger. Starts off w/a real sense of mystery, but bogs down a bit w/a wonky and undercooked mythology and a villain who isn't present enough to create true menace.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a family adventure but although an adaptation of a series of books it lacks the wonder of the Harry Potter films but is a decent solid adventure in its own right.A newly divorced mother Helen Grace (Mary-Louise Parker) moves with her children Mallory (Sarah Bolger) and twins Jared and Simon (Freddie Highmore) into an haunted old house in upstate New York that was once owned by her great uncle, a naturalist Arthur Spiderwick (David Strathairn) who vanished and his now elderly daughter ended up in an asylum.Jared discovers a book written by Spiderwick that has a warning which is ignored. The book is a field guide explaining that the estate is inhabited by various mystical creatures such as goblins and fairies.The evil Lord Mulgrath wants to destroy the book but the house has various protection including creatures that protect the book from falling into the wrong hands. The Grace kids embark on a magical and dangerous adventure.The film is economical and set at a brisk pace but it is no more than middling despite some indie sensibilities the film has such as John Sayles as one of the screenwriters.

In the XXIth, it's no more a surprise to see a exploded family : this one is without a father and i suppose i should go along. Then, we go into a country manor lost in the woods and that is rather unexpected. This old house is rather well done as it reminds me of my parents' one due to its antic furniture's ! Next, the supernatural comes in and for a time, it's rather interesting : we have got a sort of a tiny mouse turning green and bad like the Hulk and above all rural, forest entities (ogre, goblin) ! It's a bit like we have Tolkien's fantasy coming into our actual modern love but then it's the point when the movie turns really bad ! First, i know that those creatures are evil but it's hard to see teens acting like soldiers and one more time killing the bad guys ! Maybe i'm wrong but in my childhood, teens were more intelligent and peaceful when confronted and never used killing as a way to escape ! Next, we goes into a sort of faerie land to know about the fate of the ancestor : having this character back in the movie is really bad as we have a granny crying for her much younger father ! One more time, we have a single parent family and more time the child is tied in Oedipus stage as this only parents mean so much ! At last, we have the big finale which is the usual big fight, big violent moment and the movie falls down even lower with the scene of the boy stabbing his « father » ! It's like the remake of Snow White in which she stabbed the Evil Queen ! I found this scene totally inappropriate and really damaging for children education ! With the crazy world we live actually, i don't think it's sane to entertain our children with movies that praises violence, that depict themselves spilling blood and killing parental images ! So, at the end, this movie really stenches as we are left only with brave little soldiers, happy to kill the bad ones and living alone blissfully with one single parent !

Upon moving into the run-down Spiderwick Estate with their mother, twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace, along with their sister Mallory, find themselves pulled into an alternate world full of faeries and other creatures.I've made up a theory: People who have read books that are turned into movies will be more harsh to judge the films unlike people who see movies without reading the book. I think this theory is right. I was disappointed by Harry Potter 5 at first, but watching it now for a year later and nearly forgetting about the book, I found it the best in the series.The same might as well go with this film. I was disappointed. If you don't know, this film is based on 5 books. However, the movie ignores the 4th book, which is probably because of budget issues and/or limited running time. Still, I can't help but complain. There could've been more creative production designs to see, more action, and more magical creatures.Apart from that, I felt that the film was well put together, especially the fact that they skipped a lot in the books. The special effects are very good, as well as the action scenes. I also may feel this film pushed the PG rating. It certainly is not as intense as Harry Potter 3 but there might be about 2 to 3 scenes that could make this film a PG-13 rating.