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The Spiderwick Chronicles

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Family · Adventure · Fantasy · 2008

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.

Movie details

The Spiderwick Chronicles

“Their world is closer than you think.”

2008 Family · Adventure · Fantasy 1h 35m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.7 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Spiderwick Chronicles?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mark Waters

Written by

Karey Kirkpatrick · David Berenbaum · John Sayles

Freddie Highmore

Freddie Highmore

Jared Grace / Simon Grace

Sarah Bolger

Sarah Bolger

Mallory Grace

David Strathairn

David Strathairn

Arthur Spiderwick

Mary-Louise Parker

Mary-Louise Parker

Helen Grace

Nick Nolte

Nick Nolte

Mulgarath

Joan Plowright

Joan Plowright

Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick

Andrew McCarthy

Andrew McCarthy

Richard Grace

Court is in session

Put The Spiderwick Chronicles on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.