The Spiderwick Chronicles is a fantasy film inspired by the book series of the same name. The film stars Freddie Higmore, Mary-Louise Parker, and Sarah Bolger. It premiered on January 31, 2008.
Synopsis[]
Set in the Spiderwick Estate in New England, the story follows the Grace children who discover a field guide to fairies while encountering various magical creatures such as goblins, ogres, brownies, boggarts, hobgoblins, trolls and many others.
Plot Summary[]
In 1928, Arthur Spiderwick writes a Field guide about the many Faeries he has encountered. After finishing the Book, he hides it away for fear of Mulgarath, a shapeshifting ogre who plans to use the Book’s secrets for evil.
Eighty years later, recently divorced Helen Grace inherits and moves into the abandoned Spiderwick estate with her children, twin sons Jared and Simon and daughter Mallory. Jared is angry about the move and would rather live with his father. After uncovering a hidden dumbwaiter, Jared discovers Arthur’s study where he finds the Field Guide. When Jared explains his discovery of the Book and the existence of magical creatures, his family doesn't believe him.
In the morning, Jared meets a fairy named Thimbletack and attempts to feed him crackers and honey. Thimbletack, a type of fairy called a brownie, is initially angry with Jared for having opened the book that Thimbletack was supposed to be protecting from the Mulgarath. Later, however, he gives Jared a holed stone. Looking through the hole in the stone, Jared see the normally invisible Faeries. Thimbletack tells him about the protective mushroom circle surrounding the house.
Jared witnesses Simon’s abduction by goblins, led by Redcap. Simon is taken to the goblins’ campsite where he is confronted by Mulgarath. Jared sneaks into the campsite where he meets Hogsqueal, a hobgoblin, who gives Jared the ability to see Faeries without the stone by spitting in his eyes. Mulgarath releases Simon so he can fetch the Book for him. Jared finds Simon and both fight over the book before they are chased by the goblins. The twins flee back to the house, but Simon got bitten by one of the goblins. Mallory appears and Jared and Simon begs her to come. She doesn't believe at first before getting attack by the goblins and runs back into the house.
The siblings patch up Simon's leg and Mallory explained to Jared of where the goblins come from and he doesn't know that it will unleash disaster. Mallory suggest that they should give it to them but Thimbletack refuses as he appears. They tried burning the book but it was cold because it had a charm on it.
Jared decide that he and Mallory had to visit Arthur’s daughter, their great-aunt Lucinda Spiderwick, for advice. Simon stays here and gives a seeing stone for Mallory to see them. While Simon distracts the goblins, Mallory and Jared escape through an underground tunnel. Chased by a troll sent by Redcap, they narrowly escape when it is struck and killed by an oncoming truck. Jared and Mallory meet the elderly Lucinda in the psychiatric hospital where she lives, surrounded by flower pixies. She tells the children that they need to find her father and have him destroy the book and that, for eighty years, Arthur has been held captive by the sylphs. At that moment, Redcap and his goblins attack them through the window and manage to tear off several pages from the book before being driven off. Among the stolen pages, Mulgarath is pleased to find information on how to break the protective circle.
While driving her children home, Helen and Jared argue over her disbelief; Jared angrily tells Helen that he hates her and doesn't want to live with her anymore. Mallory asks her mother that Helen would tell him, helen tells her to go inside and left. Later, Hogsqueal, having overheard Mulgarath’s plan, informs the children. Jared calls his dad that everything is getting weird but Mallory and Simon told him that his father was with someone else now. They nearly hear the goblins coming closer, Jared gets and idea because Arthur has a pet.
Jared, Simon, and Mallory use the book to summon a griffin, which takes them to sylphs’ realm. There, they meet Arthur, who has not aged and is unaware of the time he has spent there. Jared asks him to destroy the book only to find out that Thimbletack had switched the pages and kept the real Book. Arthur is relieved until Jared tells him that Mulgarath knows how to break the protective circle. Arthur informs Jared that the sylphs won't allow them to leave as they, like him, know too much about the Faeries. Arthur helps them escape by distracting the sylphs with the fake book.
Once home, the children finally convince Helen of the truth but she never believes them until Thimbletack appears.. Meanwhile, the goblins finish spreading their potion, which successfully breaks the circle as the full moon rises. The family defend themselves with kitchen knives and tomato sauce/salt bombs (ingredients deadly to goblins), and manage to kill the goblins in an explosion of tomato sauce. Suddenly, the children’s father, Richard, appears. He asks of what happened and saw the book. Jared hesitated saying that the last tine that they are one the one he has something to say. Richard says that he wanted to tell Jared that he loves him. Jared stabs him, causing Helen to scream and siblings to panic, revealing that it was Mulgarath in disguise. Since he was not a goblin, he was able to survive the explosion. Mulgarath pursues Jared and the Book throughout the house before cornering him on the roof. Jared tosses the Book and Mulgarath transforms into a raven to catch it, but he is suddenly grabbed and eaten by Hogsqueal. Afterwards, Helen apologize to Jared saying that it was all her fault because she has been selfish and never told him the truth,
Weeks later, the family brings Lucinda to visit the house. The sylphs arrive with Arthur, allowing him to briefly visit now that the Book is safe. However, Arthur cannot stay long as he will turn to dust if he remains. Lucinda asks to go with him and is transformed back into a child. The Grace family watch as the sylphs spirit Arthur and Lucinda away.
Cast & Characters[]
Main[]
- Freddie Highmore as Jared Grace and Simon Grace
- Mary-Louise Parker as Helen Grace
- Nick Nolte as Mulgarath
- Sarah Bolger as Mallory Grace
- Andrew McCarthy as Richard Grace
- Joan Plowright as Lucinda Spiderwick
- Jordy Benattar as Young Lucinda Spiderwick
- David Strathairn as Arthur Spiderwick
- Lise Durocher-Viens as Constance Spiderwick
Supporting[]
- Tod Fennell as Helen Grace's co-worker
- Mariah Inger as Nurse
- Jeremy Lavalley as Tow Truck Driver
Voice Cast[]
- Seth Rogen as Hogsqueal
- Martin Short as Thimbletack
- Ron Perlman as Redcap
- Ben Diskin, Bob Joles, Jonathan Lipow, John Mariano, Nolan North, Chris Parson, and Fred Tatasciore perform the goblin voices.
Books vs. Film Differences[]
- The fourth Book is completely omitted from the movie.
- Arthur Spiderwick is held captive by elves after trying to trick them in the books. In the movie he was taken by the sylph after they saved him from goblins .
- Arthur Spiderwick turns to dust in the books. In the movie, he takes Lucinda back to the forest in her 6 year old form.
- The Protective Circle is not in the book.
- The books take place over the course of a few weeks. The movie takes place in 1 day.
- The final battle takes place at Mulgarath's Castle. In the Movie it takes place at the Spiderwick Mansion .
- The Field guide was found in the false bottom of a chest in the attic. In the movie it is found in the secret room simply wrapped in a cloth.
- It takes honey for a Boggart to turn into a Brownie . In the story, you simply have to be nice to it.
- Simon saved a Griffin and nursed it in the book. This doesn't happen in the movie, because Byron is already ok.
- Several creature such as the Phooka , The Stray Sod , The Dragon , Unicorn , Elves and Dwarves are not in the movie.
- Hogsqueal has a much larger role in the book, and is actually a 1/2 good 1/2 bad guy.
- Redcap/Wormrat has a much bigger appearance in the movie than the book.
- The Troll is more of a character in the book than in the movie,first of all he speaks in the book, and to top it all off in the movie he's in a different scene.
- In the book Mulgarath wears a cloak.
- In the book Hogsqueal doesn't eat birds as often.
Production[]
The film took 4-5 months to film.