The Spiderwick Chronicles... even later than Horton...

Today I was finally able to see the Spiderwick Chronicles. Back at the beginning of the year I decided I was going to read the Spiderwick series since the movie was set to be released. The books themselves (5 in all) are considerably shorter than the Lemony Snicket series but they read very well and fairly easily. Each book had somewhat of an ending, but for the most part, the stories pulled the Lord of the Rings ending; they just kind of stopped and the next book picked up from there. In general, I found myself more and more intrigued as I went through the books wondering what was going to happen next. Upon completing the series, I did feel that the books would flow better as a movie than the unfortunate events series, but I was going to wait and see how the movie went. The problem was, I knew I was the only one in the house that either wanted to see the movie, much less had read the books.

So now that the DVD is out in stores, I finally got my chance to see the film. I must admit, for those of us who have read the series, it leaves a lot of different details out and changes the overall story quite a bit. In general, the film was good. I thought the animation and storyline was appropriate for the length of the film and the acting was well done for what it needed. I just wish the details would have been worked in a little bit more. Having read the books the movie to me gives me the same feeling I had after I saw Lemony Snickets for the first time. I loved the series of books and wish that the movie would have followed it a little bit more closely, but overall, I felt the movie captured the integrity of the books and succeeded as a pretty decent form of storytelling.

For anyone who read the books and hasn't seen the movie (although I know it has been out for awhile), enjoy the movie for what its is, a great children's movie that pays tribute to the wonderful series create by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi. I felt it did them proud, but I will always have a special place in my heart for the books and the wonderful stories they tell.