Spiderwick Chronicles = Made of Awesome!
Let me preface this with the caveat that I have read only the first book (I know, I know) out of the series of five. But you can bet I’ll be reading them all now! (Um… as soon as I finish researching the three term papers that are due in a few months. Yeah, grad school sucks.)
Now, because I’m a nerd, I’ve seen this format on other people’s LJs and never actually used it. Until now. (Because I’m an UBER-nerd, I feel the need to point this out. And because I’m that nerdiest creature of nerd-dom, an academic, part of me is wondering whether I could get a paper out of it.)
Okay, I seriously need to stop ending paragraphs with comments in parentheses. ANYWAY.
The Spiderwick Chronicles:
+ Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger. Dude, the kids can act. Now, as one of my high-school drama teachers used to say, “Any actor with a job is a good actor.” Point taken. And the arts aren’t a competition except in the eyes of producers’ financial employees. But, compare Highmore as both Jared and Simon during the scene when Mallory reveals something about their father with “HE WAS THEIR FRIEND!!!!” and you’ll see what I mean*.
– While Jared Grace is a fully drawn character, his twin, Simon, felt a little flat to me at times. Maybe because Simon’s more of a secondary character, and the audience never really gets to be inside his head the way it does Jared’s. Simon does have some awesome, nuanced scenes, like the bit where Freddie Highmore has a fistfight with Freddie Highmore.
+ Oh yeah, Freddie Highmore has a fistfight with Freddie Highmore.
– Except probably one of them is a stunt double. Whateva!!!
+ The main characters don’t do stupid things. This is so important I cannot stress it enough. They don’t screw up because they’re lazy or dumb. Sometimes they’re stubborn or ignorant; sometimes they lose their tempers or put their own needs ahead of global ones. But, unlike the protagonists of so much cinematized fantasy for kids, they generally manage to think logically. And, when they don’t, they pay for it.
…
I so HEART how they deal with the goblin army. <3 <3 <3!
– I don’t care for “happily ever after” endings. I prefer “Into the woods/You go again/You have to every now and then” to “Journey’s over/All is mended/And it’s not just for today/But tomorrow/And extended”**. So, although the ending has at least one foot planted firmly in the former, it leans enough toward the latter to adulterate my complete satisfaction.
+ The main characters succeed due to their unique personal traits, not because they’re lucky or are allied with powerful friends.
– I’m also not so fond of plots where the key to the action is the idea that the villain wants information, especially when I’m not convinced said villain couldn’t get the information the same way as the guy who originally got it.
+ But I looooove when children get their parents/teachers/adults involved in stories in a way that’s a) believable and b) prevents the adults from taking over the story. I’m totally guilty as charged here – in most of my stories, the kids keep what they’re doing a secret when I would have been all like, “MO-OM! DAAAAD!” Of course, if their parents were like my parents, maybe they would, too. I guess the lesser evil is to at least make the parents such that the kids’ choice is understandable or make them not believe the kids. But I hate it when the parents don’t believe the kids and there’s some simple experiment or proof the kids could do to show them! (I liked the way C. S. Lewis did that, too – how, when Lucy tries to show Peter, Susan, and Edmund the country in the wardrobe, there’s actually nothing there.)
– Um, I really can’t think of any more minuses. I tripped on the steps to my seat and spilled all the buttery part of my popcorn on the floor? Sorry, that’s all I got.
+ Yay for women with swords!
– Okay, well, maybe I didn’t quite get why people who can’t *see* fairies can’t *hear* them either. Maybe it’s like that stage advice lighting directors give: if all you see is shadows, then all you hear is whispers. Actually, I made up that catchy version because I’m just in that kind of mood today.
+ The main characters prepare effectively for the fight they know is coming. Can’t stress that enough. I hate it when characters know something’s up and decide to bugger off and pretend it doesn’t exist. (Unless that’s the point of the story – that they have to learn to face conflict and stop running away.)
– Sadly, Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp aren’t in this film.
+ But did I mention that Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger are? Maybe once or twice?
– Ah, I see now why I’ve never used this format before: it makes me silly.
– Also, I think I should stop eating popcorn *before* I get sick rather than after; how about you?
– Speaking of being sick, I thought that was the cat on the spit. How come Simon still has Mr. Tibbs later?
+ Genuinely tense and/or scary moments. (So scary, in fact, that they made the kid sitting behind me kick the back of my seat.)
– I do wonder what exactly is in this fieldbook if possession of it can’t guarantee the main characters victory over the ogre but can guarantee said ogre victory over the entire human race + the rest of the fairies. Or why more fairies don’t show up to help, given that this is the case.
+ But, see, none of that external logic particularly matters to me as long as the main characters a) act in what is the most logical manner for THEM, given that the rest of the world is the way it is; b) have some sort of sympathetic goal and work as hard as they possibly can toward achieving it. I’m perfectly happy to believe that the villains are stupid (why not go to town and attack Mrs. Grace while she’s at work?), as long as the heroes still have to think and work hard to beat them.
+ Any movie in which an iPod is used to help further the cause of good is a-okay with me. (Especially if it isn’t a product placement but just a generic sort of device that would be an iPod if this were real life.)
Now, I know there are more minus points than plusses, but, seriously, it’s a fun movie. In a good way, not in the I-can’t-think-of-anything-else-nice-to-say-about-it way. So, yeah, go see it. Just don’t buy a giant bag of popcorn, because THAT makes you SICK. I learn this anew every time I go see a movie in theatres.
* Not trying to slam Daniel Radcliffe here – I can’t think of any young actor who’s grown more as a performer or challenged himself harder than Radcliffe has. But that scene? Doesn’t work for me. Sorry.
** If I’ve made the little voice in the back of your head start to sing Stephen Sondheim, my work here is done.